Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actor Sylvester Stallone.
Last updated on September 11, 2024.
Sylvester Enzio Stallone is an American actor, screenwriter, and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, he won his first critical acclaim as an actor for his co-starring role as Stanley Rosiello in The Lords of Flatbush. Stallone subsequently found gradual work as an extra or side character in films with a sizable budget until he achieved his greatest critical and commercial success as an actor and screenwriter, starting in 1976 with his role as boxer Rocky Balboa, in the first film of the successful Rocky series (1976–present), for which he also wrote the screenplays. In the films, Rocky is portrayed as an underdog boxer who fights numerous brutal opponents, and wins the world heavyweight championship twice.
When you're on top and you lead the parade, everyone's there throwing lilies and lilac water on your head. But when those parades have gone by and there's a storm in your heart, there are very few people that are going to sit there and listen to you bemoan life.
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.
I believe any success in life is made by going into an area with a blind, furious optimism.
People assume that 'The Expendables' is old school, but it's only old school because that's the way I know how to make an action film. It's pretty real.
Life is more than sunglasses and hit movies. Reality - that's the main event.
I am not the richest, smartest or most talented person in the world, but I succeed because I keep going and going and going.
I'm more focused and have a greater sense of challenge, because I constantly feel the weight of time.
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.
Every time I've failed, people had me out for the count, but I always come back.
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.
My life has always been chaotic. From the time I got dressed in the back of a deflated, flat-tired, fish-smelling station wagon for Rocky. It's always been do it yourself, kind of like paper-clip it together.
When I was in junior high school, the teachers voted me the student most likely to end up in the electric chair.
On the sequel, you've lost the element of surprise. Usually, on the first one you may not go very, very deep into character; the second one you start to explore the character a bit more.
Jesus is the inspiration for anyone to go the distance.
There aren't a lot of opportunities for that rite of passage that makes you a man. War is one of them, and violent sports are another.
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.
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.
Once in one's life, for one mortal moment, one must make a grab for immortality; if not, one has not lived.
That's what Rocky is all about: pride, reputation, and not being another bum in the neighborhood.
At the end of the day, 'Rocky' is a love story, and he could never have reached the final bell without Adrian.
When I saw 'Hercules,' my mind just exploded because I was extremely thin; I was insecure. I literally ran out of the theatre and started lifting things, anything I could think of - milk crates. I'm still lifting things. It changed my life.
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.
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.
We're all expendable. We think the world's going to stop when a pope dies, or a king. And then... life goes on.
I'm not handsome in the classical sense. The eyes droop, the mouth is crooked, the teeth aren't straight, the voice sounds like a Mafioso pallbearer, but somehow it all works.
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.
I have great expectations for the future, because the past was highly overrated.
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.
In a contest between me and a bulldog, you would say the bulldog is cuter.
Like I said, I've got too much respect for women to marry them, but that doesn't mean you can't support them emotionally and financially.
Playing polo is like trying to play golf during an earthquake.
You are what you leave behind.
Once is a man's life, for one mortal moment, he must make a grab for immorality; if not, he has not lived.
When I'm doing a movie, I eat the same thing every day. For lunch, it's tuna salad or chicken salad and cole slaw. That's it. For dinner it's either veal and rice, fish and rice or steak and rice. It gets boring; boy, does it get boring.
I have a fear of heights that borders on mania.
The day I can't walk is the day I quit movies.
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.
If you express yourself too much, you're considered weak.
It would be great to be able to pass on to someone all of the successes, the failures, and the knowledge that one has had. To help someone, avoid all the fire, pain and anxiety would be wonderful.
You've got to show your soul otherwise you're just a piece of equipment.
The body needs to rest. It needs a lot less exercise than you think.
I never quite understood these actors - though I envy them sometimes - who can lie out for a year or two. I feel as though time is a real pressing issue, and I want to get as much work done in the time that I have left.
I know I'm incredibly unpredictable, and that's the only thing I'm sure 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.
Success is usually the culmination of controlling failure.
For 'Rocky II,' I got a torn pectoral muscle, I got all beat up inside, I had to have an operation to splice things back together.
Testosterone to me is so important for a sense of well-being when you get older.
Crunches are much more effective than regular sit-ups because they specifically target your upper abdominal muscles rather than your hip muscles. If you're not used to them, they can cause soreness a day or two later, but it's a 'cool' soreness. A badge of honor.
If you think people are inherently good, you get rid of the police for 24 hours - see what happens.
I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.
I am a sensitive writer, actor and director. Talking business disgusts me. If you want to talk business, call my disgusting personal manager.
I love being verbal in films.
Today's action hero, his skills are through technology. He can fly, he can throw a bolt of lightning, he can freeze people.
People don't realize that when they 'throw out' their back, it's often because of weak abs. These muscles are essential for lower-back strength and good posture.
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.
When life hits you pretty hard, you can go into a dark corner.
I made some truly awful movies. 'Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot' was the worst. If you ever want someone to confess to murder just make him or her sit through that film. They will confess to anything after 15 minutes.
I respect a woman too much to marry her.
Years ago I was diagnosed with a condition, and my doctors prescribed human growth hormone and testosterone for its treatment. Under medical supervision, I have continued to use both medications.