Mr. T Quotes

I believed in God when cancer come to me. Now when I speak, I speak with authority because I’ve been there.

We were poor, but we smiled.

The most violent show on TV is the six o’clock news.

I go down the street, people see me: ‚Hey, I pity-‚ right on, man, that’s a compliment to me.

Hmm, on my downtime, I take a shower or listen to the Bible on tape.

I do watch some TV. I like the History Channel and National Geographic, and old shows on TV Land like ‚Sanford and Son,‘ ‚The Jeffersons,‘ and ‚Benson.‘

To kids, I’ve always been more than just some big tough black guy. I train to be tough – I box and do karate – but underneath all that toughness is a tender man.

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 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.

If you look at my job, my union card, it says ‚actor.‘ It don’t say nothing about celebrity, movie star, nothing like that, and that’s one thing that keeps me humble.

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.

I pity the fool who just gives up.

I believe in the Golden Rule – The Man with the Gold… Rules.

If you get knocked down – setbacks in life, like applying for a job if they don’t hire you – keep trying, keep getting up, keep doing it.

It takes a smart man to play dumb.

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 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.

I am tough, but deep inside my toughness, I like to let people know I’m an old-fashioned mama’s boy.

I pull no punches!

I have been chosen by God Almighty to be one of his messengers.

I’m pretty clean, hygienic and all that, but sometimes when I come home, I throw my coat over there, take one shoe off here, one shoe off there, but I’m not dirty.

The blessed of us must save the less of us. I’m blessed, and yeah, I’m planning to go to Heaven.

One time, this guy was bothering my mother, and me and my brothers had a stern talking with the guy and a little bit of physicality with him. So he disappeared. But I’m not a magician.

To have a comeback, you have to have a setback.

I’m not the same man I used to be, I’m not out hell-raising, stuff like that. I am a changed man.

To be a bodyguard is to be a kamikaze pilot. Dedicated.

I don’t like magic – but I have been known to make guys disappear.

Really, you don’t lose until you stop trying.

My momma didn’t clean up floors so I could be a thug… so I could wear my pants down.

As a kid, I got three meals a day. Oatmeal, miss-a-meal and no meal.

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’m tough when I have to be, tender when I should be. When you find a really tough guy, he’s not a predator. He doesn’t have to prove himself. Guys who have to pretend to be tough, they ain’t. I’m tough.

When I’m ready to fight, my opponent has a better chance of surviving a forest fire wearing gasoline drawers.

If people are cool, then they are not stressed. I pity the fool that don’t be cool.

I have a heart of gold, but I’m really a marshmallow in my heart.

Any man who doesn’t love his mama can’t be no friend of mine.

T stands for being nice. T stands for manners. T stands for being polite.

NBC had a show called ‚The Toughest Bouncer in America‘ that I did. But I told them I didn’t like that term, ‚bouncer.‘ To me, it’s offensive. A bouncer likes to get physical, likes to put his hands on people.

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!

If you gonna wear the mohawk, you stick with it. You don’t just be dibby-dabbing. You make up your mind.

I know about two things: ‚Rocky III‘ and Clubber Lang, and ‚A-Team‘ and B.A. Baracus. That’s who I am!

I’m a child of God first. Before I became a celebrity, I was baptized a Christian.

I didn’t come to Hollywood. Hollywood came to me. A lot of people wish they could say the things I say. Everyone out here is so phony, it’s sickening.

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.

When I was old enough to change my name, I changed it to Mr. T so that the first word out of someone’s mouth was ‚Mister,‘ a sign of respect.

I didn’t watch ‚The A-Team‘ movie. I’m an artist. You can’t re-paint a Rembrandt. You can’t duplicate that; I don’t care who you get.

A lot of the stuff I do in terms of PR, I learned it from Muhammad Ali.

Basically, I wear sandals, like Jesus. When it gets cold in Chicago, the snow way up to my knees, I still wear my sandals. But that’s me.

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’m a mama’s boy because everything I do is with respect to my mother. I won’t do a movie or a video that would bring disrespect to my mother.

My gold, my money couldn’t stop cancer from appearing on my body. If they can’t save me, then I don’t need them.

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.

All I ever wanted to do with my life was own a little house. I did that way back with ‚Rocky,‘ so now everything I do is just icing on the cake.

Back in the day, I would wear up to 45 pounds of gold. It would take me four hours to get dressed!

The reason why I wear gold – I wear gold for three reasons. One, when Jesus was born, three wise men came from the east: one brought frankincense, one brought myrrh, the other one brought gold. The second reason I wear gold is I can afford it. The third reason I wear it, it’s symbolic of my African heritage.

I was mischievous. I wasn’t bad. I stole food so we could eat. My mother didn’t know. I used to tell her some man gave me $10 to sweep out the yard. I was like Robin Hood. I took from the rich and gave to the poor. Me.

I said I would never wear my gold again because it would be insensitive and disrespectful to all the people who died and lost everything in Katrina.

Like Frank Sinatra, I’m doing it my way.

I’m a free spirit.