Quotes from Jake LaMotta

People get in auto accidents, they're paralyzed for life. I got hurt worse getting married.

I don't know how to back up.

I waited all those years for a title shot, and when I finally got it, I had to pay $20,000 for the opportunity. My purse was only $18,000. So to make money, I had to bet $10,000 on myself at 8-5. That was how it was in those days.

Boxing never hurt me at all.

I fought Sugar Ray six times. Pound for pound the greatest fighter who ever lived.

Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest, pound-for-pound, ever. He fought most of his career with just one loss, and that was to me. He had 131 fights with one loss.

When I was a kid, I wanted to fight Joe Louis. But I think if I had seen Mike Tyson at that time, I would have said, 'Nah, I don't want to fight him.' He's deadly. He could have been one of the great heavyweight champions. But he goofed.

There was only one thing I wanted out of life. That was to be the champ.

Big money causes me too much trouble with my ex-wives and the government. All I want is to keep busy and to be comfortable.

All my life, I wanted to be champion.

God's been pretty good to me. He made me duck all those punches that were supposed to land.

I read the Romans had bread and circuses. We had home relief and boxing.

You can't fight if you have any compassion or anything like that.

I conditioned myself many years ago that nobody could hurt me.

When you're No. 1 contender for five years, and you know who's controlling things, you'll do something you're not proud of.

Forward, always moving forward, from the time I can remember - a kid. I was short, and the big guys would take advantage; I had to turn myself into a body puncher. By that time I was in reform school, they'd have a boxing match every week; they'd bring guys in from outside to fight me.

There's a lot of people all over the world that talked about me.

I ask for personal appearance fees because I've earned them. I deserve them. My presence at events is what they need, so they ought to pay for it.

If I got a beating for something, I usually deserved it.

I never went to church. The priests couldn't scare me with all that crap about hell, but somehow I knew, inside of me somehow, I knew that I'd pay for it.

There's no pensions for old prize fighters.

I always needed money when I was younger. I had different ways of getting it. A lot of the ways I don't like to talk about.

Besides being a slum kid with no great education in anything except how to fight and stay alive and steal, I also had this temper.

I wasn't born to be a fighter. My hands are too small, and look at these short arms.