“Chinese people need to be controlled; otherwise, they will do whatever they want.”

I allowed myself to be bullied because I was scared and didn’t know how to defend myself. I was bullied until I prevented a new student from being bullied. By standing up for him, I learned to stand up for myself.

Why did I become Jackie Chan? Mostly because I work very hard. When people were sleeping, I was still training.

When you are learning about a martial art, it is about respect.

I want to show audiences I can act.

Martial arts is for defense. It’s not for attacking. So when people are fighting, always, always, defend.

The movie business is a big gamble.

In the past when I was in Hollywood, I was like a dog. I felt humiliated. My English was not good. People would even ask me ‘Jackie Who?’.

I hate interviews – but you have to do them.

I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we’re not being controlled, we’ll just do what we want.

Being still and doing nothing are two completely different things.

After all those years in Asia, I don’t have to do promotion anymore. We just release a Jackie Chan movie and – Boom! – people go.

I only want my work to make people happy.

I want to build up my philosophy… my philosophy with kung fu is to respect people.

When I look at young kids today I just don’t believe it, parents take away the Gameboy and they’re suicidal. They cannot take the pressure.

Family is not who’s blood is in you, is who you love and who loves you.

I just want people to remember me like I remember Buster Keaton. When they talk about Buster Keaton or Gene Kelly, people say, ‘Ah yes, they good.’ Maybe one day, they remember Jackie Chan that way.

Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have.

As soon as government management begins it upsets the natural equilibrium of industrial relations, and each interference only requires further bureaucratic control until the end is the tyranny of the totalitarian state.

My diabetes is such a central part of my life… it did teach me discipline, it also taught me about moderation. I’ve trained myself to be super-vigilant because I feel better when I am in control.

That’s something I like about drag – I get to do everything. Collaborative arts are hard for me because I don’t really like to relinquish control.

I am not someone like A. B. de Villiers, Gayle, or Dhoni. I don’t have that much power. I have to use my brain to manipulate the field and stick to my strength, which is to hit through the lines.

When you accept the fact that sometimes seasons are dry and times are hard and that God is in control of both, you will discover a sense of divine refuge, because the hope then is in God and not in yourself.

Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls your life.

Now that we are poor, we are free. No white man controls our footsteps.