Jean-Claude Van Damme Quotes

1. When I go on location, we have a schedule. And when you have a schedule, you know when you're not working, so I train very well on location. But I also train three or four times a week at home, but today I train differently than before.


2. I am the Fred Astaire of karate.

3. I train, for me, very smartly. I don't train heavy, I do a lot of isometrics.

4. There are some movie stars in Hollywood that are so scared, they also tell the reporter that they are recording them, in case there is something wrong with what they wrote about them in the papers.

5. Time Cop could have been a very profitable franchise, but those idiots chose instead to sell the rights to television. That could have also been the case with Bloodsport, but they settled instead on second-rate kick-boxers for the sequels.

6. But on average, I go to the gym about four or five times a week. Today, I'm so experienced in training - I'm actually listening to my body now. My body needs freedom. When I train I create serenity and I produce oxygen in my blood. It helps me to think better and relax. By training, you accentuate the problem.

7. An action hero has to be always in shape mentally and physically. People, sometimes they believe Sly, Arnold, myself, we're athletes, you cannot make mistakes. But Hollywood forgives, I guess.


8. The action films I will make in the future will be more believable and character-based. I am now on my second cycle of fame, and I want to make films that smell real and are truthful.

9. Ten, 15 years ago, Sly, Arnold, those guys, were well-built; of course, they had to act and find good scripts, but today action heroes don't have to be Mr. Muscles.




10. What is a movie star? It is an illusion. It was everything I ever wanted to be, but it became a kind of shell, non? It was what made me famous and got me women. But it wasn't real.

11. (his response to being asked what he thinks of his nickname "Muscles from Brussels"): "It's better than being called "The Idiot from Brussels".




12. I'm a big traveler these days. I was in Hong Kong. I live there. I was just in Belgium with my parents and now I'm on my way to North America. You will find me all over.

13. You know, I looked at my face in the mirror this morning, and I like being old. My face has more content and when I train in the gym now, I am not training to be strong or handsome - just better than I was yesterday. These days the race is just against myself.

14. Believe me - I've done very good stuff and very crazy stuff, and I don't regret the crazy stuff.






15. My dreams came true in America. It's not possible in Belgium. I grew up sadly. Skinny kid. Big, thick glasses. Everything I've done is a miracle.

16. I'm one of the most sensitive human beings on Earth - and I know it.

17. I like structure - like driving: go past the school on the street, stay on the right side, no hitting the car, go in right, you'll see a big church, stop and take a left, and you'll have it. By doing this I'm giving a structure of life, a path of light, and showing what happens between me and me, which is something very beautiful.

18. Karate's a very boring sport, but when you know the technique you can go further and further.

19. I came to America with a dream and I made it. The dream became reality. America is built for success.

20. I love challenges. If you don't have any and can do whatever you want, then it's probably time to die.


21. You can create the perfect triceps by just pushing yourself off your wall.


22. I'm not complaining about doing 20-hour days. It's a joy to be able to work on yet another film.

23. I love playing the villain, but a villain with class.

24. You need at least six or seven years to understand the philosophy and concentration of karate to know to clean your spirit of everything and dedicate your mind and body to the sport.


25. I see dogs on the street, and I adopt them. I took seven dogs from Thailand, and a few of them are paralyzed. One has three paws instead of four. One is limping, so we bought him a wheelchair. I spent my own money to fly them back by private jet. In commercial, they can have heart attacks because of stress - it's dark and icy cold. I love animals. I have nine dogs and a kitty. My biggest orgasm - not in a sexual way - is to walk with my dogs on the beach. In Belgium we have these wide sidewalks. You feel like you're on the Planet Moon, and I can make them feel like movie stars.

26. God gave me a great body and it's my duty to take care of my physical temple.

27. I've become 40, my audience is partly the same age.

28. You have to believe what you say, and if you believe what you are saying, then acting is easy.

29. (on rejecting Sylvester Stallone's offer of a part in "The Expendables") Stallone gave me a part in his next movie, but I ask him about the subject, about the story. He said: "You're gonna make lots of money." I don't want to hear that, I want to hear what was my character. He was unable to tell what it's going to be. (Stallone said) "You know, uh, well, the fighting will be good." (So I said) "Sly, what is my character?" So I didn't do the movie.

30. (on "Timecop" director Peter Hyams) He was the only one who visited me in the clinic when I was there years ago. All the agents and managers who made a fortune with me never came.

31. I don't have a bad relationship. I'm 48 years old. I think life is too short for that. To me, life is…you open the shutters, you see the dogs outside, you look left, you look right, in, what, a second and a half? And that's a life.

32. You have to have a dream, the passion to make it, to make it, to really, really make it.





33. When I was 24, I was full of life. I was that ham who wanted to be famous, a movie star, all that stuff. I think it's cool. But it was not what I was searching for, really. It was more a delusion.

34. Air is beautiful, yet you cannot see it. It's soft, yet you cannot touch it. Air is a little like my brain.

35. Hard Target was a bad script, but we had some great action scenes, and John Woo made me look like a samurai with greasy hair.





36. Because no matter what you say in life, the truth will always be the truth. You know when someone is telling the truth, you look in the eyes. I have a tendency to believe people.

37. In the past, I was working out too heavy.





38. Your body has enough weight for you to be in perfect condition just working against yourself.

39. My wife is not my best sexual partner, but she's good with the housework.

40. I am very proud of that film. I am persuaded that here, in the United States, it would have been a great success in theaters. And if you ask me why I am so proud of Replicant, it is because we succeeded in making a big film with very reduced budgets.

41. When you finish a film, if you believed in your character, you're empty.

42. Life is short. I'm 47 years old. I've got 10 years to go where I can be the best I can be. I want those 10 years to be precious, not like before, cranking two or three movies a year. I've made a ton of movies in my life, but so what?

43. It looks good when you see someone kicking at the age of 51 with no double. It's kinda cool for people to know that past 50 we can keep flexible.

44. In an action film you act in the action. If it's a dramatic film you act in the drama.



45. I now truly believe it is impossible for me to make a bad movie.

46. My time of martial arts was traditional.

47. I have lots of respect for Christopher Walken. Did you see him in the King of New York? Steve McQueen, and Paul Newman are terrific. I feel their movies have quality. Rocky and Rambo were filled with drama and passion. Arnold doesn't move me. I like movies like The Godfather and The Deer Hunter. These are films with real solid acting, real talent.

48. My body looks like 30 but my face looks like 50. But I cannot walk bare-chested in the streets. I like to do these movies to challenge myself physically.


49. What I promise to my actors, and to my director, is to give them the salary and everything they need.

50. (on adopting the name "Van Damme") I took his (Alex Van Damme) name, in fact from his father because his father sent me for the first time in Hong Kong to be a picture model. I'm not enough tall to be a catwalk model, plus too big for that, and we became very good friends and I took his name as an honor. Because my name, by the way, is too complicated, it's Van Veren Berg, so in America it sounds like "Van Varen Berg" (said with American accent). So Van Damme it's punchy, short, and clear.

51. I came back to my original wife. I came back to her after I made a few boo-boos in my life. Coming back to her was good for me, good for her and good for the children.





52. What really helps a guy to become an action hero today is the directing of the movie. All those fast cuts.

53. I refused a sequel. I wasn't offered enough money. Instead, we did a new film, Double Impact, rather than just make Kickboxer 2.

54. It's time for me to do things I like so I will be happy, my wife will be happy, my friends will be happy. I just want to do something I'm proud of. It's time for me to change. I could sign with a company for 10 movies and I'm the king of video and so what?





55. (on who should play the villain in Expendables 3) I think Steven Seagal has such a good presence. And he should lose some weigh, which isn't that difficult. I think he has lots of charisma. Even though he speaks bad about me sometimes, I think it's all bullshit. He's a nice guy. I think he has his own type of temper, vision, character. But he would be great in Expendables as a bad guy.


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