“Hard times fall upon everybody. Whatever it is, we’re going to get out of it.”

You need to learn independence. You have to be independent – it builds character.

We all have struggles in life but we have to continue to fight.

I’m scared every time I go into the ring, but it’s how you handle it. What you have to do is plant your feet, bite down on your mouthpiece and say, ‘Let’s go.’

The drug dealers, they sympathize with me. They see me as some sort of pathetic character.

You have to compete in life because if you don’t have no competition – no competition, no spirit, you know, you’ll fall under the slightest struggle.

Everybody wants to be somebody. Everybody wants to be noticed. Everybody wants to be somebody important. Importance is just treating people good. That’s important.

Confidence breeds success & success breeds confidence, Confidence applied properly surpasses genius.

Not to be egotistical, but I don’t think there is a man on this planet who can beat me.

People say ‘Poor guy.’ That insults me. I despise sympathy. So I screwed up. I made some mistakes. ‘Poor guy,’ like I’m some victim. There’s nothing poor about me.

What was most important was the knowledge [aspect] of the fight. I learned this early on and just told myself to “upgrade my mind.” That’s just what I wanted to do my whole life.

There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes, just don’t make the same ones. We don’t want to duplicate them.

When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap – people shouldn’t read that stuff.

There’s nothing to fear but fear itself. It’s an illusion of fear. Fear is an illusion. If you gonna die, you gonna die anyway; it’s not something to fear, fear is not gonna help.

At one point, I thought life was about acquiring things. But as a I get older, life is totally about losing everything.

Yes, time flies. And where did it leave you? Old too soon, smart too late.

I’m the most brutal and ruthless conquerer there has ever been.