'Rocky' represents the optimistic side of life, and 'Rambo' represents purgatory.

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.

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 love being so tight on people in close-ups that the veins in their eyes look like the Mississippi River.

Success is usually the culmination of controlling failure.

I started out as an actor, but I forced myself to be a writer, even though I wasn't very good at it and had never written. I don't think I ever passed an English course in my life. My first eight to 10 scripts were pretty horrendous, but I stayed at it, stayed at it, and stayed at it, until I eventually found a voice and a subject like Rocky that people were interested in.

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.