Jake LaMotta Quotes

I don't like to be picked on. Growing up where I did you learn to fight.

I didn't go out looking for fights as a kid, but if it was necessary, I'd fight. Fighting was a daily thing where we lived.

The way I survived growing up in Jersey City was by being funny. It wasn't by being tough. Nobody thought of me as a tough kid, except for the kids I beat up.

I have a different kind of experience than other girls had. I've had to face a lot of different styles and adjust to them. I had to face a lot of bad situations and come back. I've had to fight with my eyes swollen shut and my nose broken and bloody.

I started boxing when I was eight. I enjoyed when I could hit someone and they couldn't hit me back. It was like a game for me. The feeling of knocking someone out. My first knockout victory was when I was ten. He went down and his nose started to bleed, so they stopped it.

I had many boxing matches with my brother in the backyard when we were younger, and I guess while other people abhor boxing for its brutality, I also have to admire anyone who climbs into the ring to face up to what could be the ultimate defeat.

I was drawn to boxing because I got beat up as a kid. I was the kid with the piano books in a New York neighbourhood.

Man, I fought since pre-K. I was small for my grade, but I was tough.

I was made fun of at a young age. I would fight a lot in the streets, and it has a lot to do with the way I am today. It helped my development as a fighter, but what can I say?

I'm just a normal fellow who gets punched in the face for a living and gets punched really hard at times as well. But you know what? I'm all right at punching them back.

You had to be tough to survive in my neighborhood.

I've been battle-tested inside the ring and outside the ring.

What don't kill me... Had better start running!

If I don't give up in the ring, I don't give up in life... I try to live my life the same way.

You are such a chick." I widened my eyes in mock surprise. "No way. Are you sure?" Sighing again, he rubbed at the tattoos on his wrist. "Mackenzie was right. You aren't slayer material." Before he had time to register my intentions, I threw a punch. My sore, swollen knuckles slammed into his cheekbone, thrusting his head to the side. Pain shot up my arm, but I bit my tongue to stop a moan. "You were saying?" He popped his jaw, rubbed at the reddening skin-and slowly grinned. "Okay, so now I understand why Cole likes you. You're worse than Kat.

You don't learn to hold your own in the world by standing on guard, but by attacking, and getting well hammered yourself.

When your back is against the wall, there is only one thing to do, and that is turn around and fight.

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!

I did what sports were supposed to be like, and I was living in my car. So you know what, fine. I'm gonna talk a bunch of sh*t. I'm gonna pose in a couple of pictures. And I'm gonna break a couple of girl's arms, and I'm not gonna feel the least bit sorry about it because you know what? At least I can feed my dog.

Those who do not know how to fight worry die young.

The only way I was able to defend myself was to be able to take punishment. Then I got a lot of respect. They said, "Oh, he's okay, he can take it. Don't hit him." The guys were pretty big, and I had asthma.

Life is a fight, but not everyone’s a fighter. Otherwise, bullies would be an endangered species.

It was a natural process, because when we go to the ring we are human beings, but once you feel the punches and the competition that's when the beast comes out and takes hold of us.

When I was a child, my father taught me to put up my fists like a boy and to be prepared to defend myself at all times.

We've had drive-by shootings. I've been spat on, slapped, shot at. One guy tried to stab me with a broken beer bottle. But the way we look at it, if people do the worst they can, we'll still wake up in glory.