So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.

I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

A hero is someone who in spite of weakness, doubt or not always knowing the answers goes ahead and overcomes anyway.

Your body is not who you are. The mind and spirit transcend the body.

[on the famous fight scene in Superman II (1980)] The Salkinds [producers Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind] wanted to make a splash. Their vision was really big. I remember much of that as being fun. The strong wind blowing the cars around, from the three baddies with their super breath, that was all staged by [Richard Lester]. And it had an element of humor to it, so it was fun for us to think of gags.

I have seen first-hand how Superman actually transforms people`s lives. I have seen children dying of brain tumors who wanted as their last request to be able to talk to me, and have gone to their graves with a peace brought on by knowing that their belief in this kind of character is intact. I have seen that Superman really matters. They`re connecting with something very basic: the ability to overcome obstacles, the ability to persevere, the ability to understand difficulty and to turn your back on it.

[pn Superman`s enduring popularity] He`s a friend. Everybody needs a friend. That`s why he`s still here.

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.

[on his post-accident role in Rear Window (1998) (TV)] I was worried that only acting with my voice and my face, I might not be able to communicate effectively enough to tell the story. But I was surprised to find that if I really concentrated and just let the thoughts happen, that they would read on my face.

[speaking about the reshoots of Superman II (1980) after changing directors] It was usually done whenever a set doubled or we had a problem with expensive actors being available. I remember we did many scenes from the Daily Planet, if not all of them, while we were doing Part One. So those were pretty much in the bank. Gene Hackman, to the extent that he was in Part Two, was also done while he was around for Part One. I don`t remember that he came back again.

I often refer to Abraham Lincoln, who said, "When I do good I feel good. When I do bad I feel bad. And that is my religion." I think we all have a little voice inside us that will guide us. It may be God, I don`t know. But I think that if we shut out all the noise and clutter from our lives and listen to that voice, it will tell us the right thing to do.

[from an interview three months before the release of Superman III (1983)] Look, I`ve flown, I`ve become evil, loved, stopped and turned the world backward, I`ve faced my peers, I`ve befriended children and small animals, and I`ve rescued cats from trees. What else is there left for Superman to do that hasn`t been done?

The key to success is letting the relationships in your life grow to the highest levels they possibly can . . . not putting yourself first in life and remembering that the more you give away, the more you have.

[on director Richard Lester`s filming of Superman III (1983)] [He] was always looking for a gag - sometimes to the point where the gags involving Richard Pryor went over the top. I mean, I didn`t think that his going off the top of a building, on skis with a pink tablecloth around his shoulders, was particularly funny.

[on making sequels] You know, when you make sequels, they have to be better each time. And you have to spend the money. I remember on Superman II (1980), we once went down to St. Lucia in the Caribbean from Pinewood--took a whole crew to get a shot of Superman picking a flower by a stream. And we had just been to Norway to get some shots of him in the snow fields. All that was scaled down by the producers of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), and I think the film looks ersatz as a result.

We live in a time when the words impossible and unsolvable are no longer part of the scientific community`s vocabulary. Each day we move closer to trials that will not just minimize the symptoms of disease and injury but eliminate them.

A hero is someone who in spite of weakness, doubt or not always knowing the answers goes ahead and overcomes anyway.

Hollywood needs to do more. Let`s continue to take risks. Let`s tackle the issues. In many ways our film community can do it better than anyone else.

[from a Barbara Walters interview a few months prior to his death] I am getting older and time is ticking. The more time goes by the more I feel a sense of urgency and I can accept anything except for complacency.

[on the weight training he did for Superman (1978)] I actually thought I was in pretty good shape before, but by the time we were done, I felt like I was ready to take on Muhammad Ali!

[Jerry Siegel`] and [Joe Shuster] created a piece of American mythology. It was my privilege to be the onscreen custodian of the character in the `70s and `80s. There will be many interpretations of Superman, but the original character created by two teenagers in the `30s will last forever.

I asked Sean Connery how to avoid being typecast and he said, "First you have to be good enough that they ask you to play it again and again."

[talking about Robin Williams` visiting him in the hospital shortly after the accident] There was this guy wearing a blue scrub hat and a yellow gown and with a Russian accent, being some insane Russian doctor . . . I laughed for the first time, and I knew that life was going to be okay.

A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

What makes Superman a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and the maturity to use the power wisely. From an acting point of view, that`s how I approached the part.

Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean.