Most action is based on redemption and revenge, and that's a formula. Moby Dick was formula. It's how you get to the conclusion that makes it interesting.
I think everyone has a certain kind of formula in their life. When you deviate from that formula, you're going to fail big or you're gonna win big.
The trouble with remakes is that people fall in love with the original. It's like peanut butter. If you try to change the taste of peanut butter, you're in trouble.
The action movies changed radically when it became possible to Velcro your muscles on. It was the beginning of a new era. The visual took over. The special effects became more important than the single person. That was the beginning of the end.
I think that gravity sets into everything, including careers, but pendulums do swing and mountains do become valleys after a while... if you keep on walking.
People that spend time in a foxhole -- they're never going to find that relationship anywhere else again... Everything else pales next to that. When you think about the Second World War vets -- more than even the Vietnam vets -- there's a brotherhood.
When you're scared, when you're hanging on, when life is hurting you, then you're going to see what you're really made of.
I believe there's an inner power that makes winners or losers. And the winners are the ones who really listen to the truth of their hearts.
If you think people are inherently good, you get rid of the police for 24 hours -- see what happens.
There's a natural law of karma that vindictive people, who go out of their way to hurt others, will end up broke and alone.
A lot of guys have muscles. A lot of strong men in this world. I think it's important to show that even under all this strength there's a fragile side, a side that can be affected.
In a contest between me and a bulldog, you would say the bulldog is cuter.
Every time I've failed, people had me out for the count, but I always come back.
You know what I think happened? After 'Rocky,' I was almost set up in the eyes of the media to make a flop.
I think audiences have hit the wall with CGI and special effects. They have seen so many over-the-top events that they can't suspend disbelief.
Every morning, I crawl out of bed. I sit there and think, 'Do I really need this?' And I drag myself to the gym in my garage. It's not fun. I hate it. I work out alone. Weights.
I'm always looking for a new challenge. There are a lot of mountains to climb out there. When I run out of mountains, I'll build a new one.
I think that's become passe, but if you can surround yourself with a kind of monument to yourself and your family -- a statement -- and you can afford it, then that's a noble project.
At the end of the day, 'Rocky' is a love story, and he could never have reached the final bell without Adrian.
I am not the richest, smartest or most talented person in the world, but I succeed because I keep going and going and going.
Don't be gullible, use life before it uses you. Understand there are no free lunches, and for every action you take, there's a reaction.
I have great expectations for the future, because the past was highly overrated.
I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.
If you don't have a mountain, build one and then climb it. And after you climb it, build another one; otherwise you start to flatline in your life.
If you're willing to take the humiliation of sticking your head above the crowd, maybe it's, you know, the pleasure will be worth the pain.
I believe any success in life is made by going into an area with a blind, furious optimism.
When I was a kid, my mother used to feed me mashed-potato sandwiches, brussel sprout sandwiches; my brain cells were starving from lack of food. I'll eat anything. I'll eat dirt.
I know I'm incredibly unpredictable, and that's the only thing I'm sure of.
Usually whenever you're scared of something, do it. If you're not afraid of it, don't do it.
I have all kinds of chest injuries; I tore my vein during 'Rocky II' and had 60 stitches. If you've seen 'Rocky Balboa,' you'll know how bad they look.
I was an insecure kid. Once I saw 'Hercules' with Steve Reeves, it completely changed my life. If I had never gone to that film, I wouldn't be here today.
People think retiring is fun. Well, maybe, but if you have a certain kind of fire inside, there is no end in sight.
You've got to show your soul otherwise you're just a piece of equipment.
I've been involved in something which was chaotic and insane. All I can say now is that I am, and intend to stay, a single man.
We're all expendable. We think the world's going to stop when a pope dies, or a king. And then... life goes on.
Nothing's harder than writing. There's no comparison. With directing, you can bounce a lot of ideas around. There's tremendous support -- you've got editors and sound mixers. With writing, it's all you, and it's just crippling when people tear up your pages.
The phenomenal thing that happened to me is that I was able to create two memorable men: one is the ultimate optimist, Rocky, and then you have Rambo, the ultimate pessimist. You're going to always be remembered for them, no matter what you do.
If bad decorating was a hanging offense, there'd be bodies hanging from every tree!
Life is more than sunglasses and hit movies. Reality -- that's the main event.
