“It takes a smart man to play dumb.”
“My momma didn’t clean up floors so I could be a thug…so I could wear my pants down.”
“I have the Midas touch, in the way that when I hook up with a project, I feel, not speaking cocky or conceited, but there’s a confidence I have.
I learned that from Muhammad Ali; I used to bodyguard him.
He taught me about confidence. So when it comes to any job I work, I’m gonna do it good;
I’m going to bring it over the top.”
“I believe in the Golden Rule – The Man with the Gold… Rules.”
“As a kid, I got three meals a day. Oatmeal, miss-a-meal and no meal.”
“You might not have the things you want, but if you check carefully, you got all you need.”
“You know, T can stand for anything. T stand for working hard. T stand for loving thy neighbor. T stand for feeding the hungry. T stand for just working, working, working, being happy on the set, you know, lifting everybody’s spirits. T stands for just a nice guy.”
“You pity the fool because you don’t want to beat up a fool! You know, pity is between sorry and mercy. See, if you pity him, you know, you won’t have to beat him up. So that’s why I say fools, you gotta give another chance because they don’t know no better. That’s why I pity them!”
“I don’t like magic – but I have been known to make guys disappear.”
“I knew I wasn’t going to be a rocket scientist – let’s not be fools – but I wasn’t going to be a bum.”
“I am tough, but deep inside my toughness, I like to let people know I’m an old-fashioned mama’s boy.”
“I try to work out my mind more these days. I try to eat right. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I take the skin off chicken. But I’m not on no special diet. I like my steak and potatoes, ice cream, doughnuts.”
“To have a comeback, you have to have a setback.”
“I try to use my experience and the fact that I grew up in the ghetto – I tell people you don’t have to rob or steal to get out of the ghetto.”
“They used to call me ‘Touchdown T.’ I remember in high school, we had homecoming, and I got in front of the pep rally, and I told them, ‘I’m going to run for three touchdowns.’ I ran for three touchdowns, kicked the extra point, and took myself out the game.”
“Stay humble and be concerned for the less fortunate.”
“I used to bodyguard for Muhammad Ali, Leon Spinks, Sugar Ray Leonard. I used to bodyguard a lot of diamond merchants; I would travel with a suitcase full of diamonds and take them from point A to point B. My reputation grew because I was a professional. I did my job, and I was courteous – a no-nonsense guy.”
“I don’t do Shakespeare. I don’t talk in that kind of broken English.”
“When I was nine years old, living on the south side of Chicago, my father was a minister and my mother used to scrub floors. I had seven brothers and four sisters. I told my mama, ‘One of these days I’m going to be big and strong and buy you a beautiful house.’ That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do with my life, is to take care of my mother.”
“We all gonna die eventually from something or other, but don’t be a wimp. Put up a good fight.”
“I go down the street, people see me: ‘Hey, I pity-‘ right on, man, that’s a compliment to me.”
“In 1995, I was diagnosed with cancer, and I had to practice what I preached. I had always said to ‘believe in God’ and ‘don’t give up’ to little kids who had been diagnosed with cancer. I then thought if I can’t call on that same God and same strength that I told people about, I would be a liar and a phony.”
“I’m not a star. I don’t feel I’m so great. So how can I make you feel great just because you’ve got my signature on a piece of paper?”
“If you can’t read, the only thing you can do is enjoy the pictures, not the whole story. Reading is the key to knowledge. Knowledge is the key to understanding. So read on, young man! Read on, young lady!”
“I know about two things: ‘Rocky III’ and Clubber Lang, and ‘A-Team’ and B.A. Baracus. That’s who I am!”
“Gold was a gift to Jesus. If it’s good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me!”
“Everybody has done something that we wish we didn’t say or do and wish we could take it back.”
“I don’t mean to be cocky, but if I’m never on TV again, if I never make another dollar, I am proud. I did what I wanted to do.”
“We were poor, but we smiled.”
“I want to represent… to the kids to draw strength from me. So they can see that everybody goes through something, but you can rise up and do your best. Just try.”