I did think for many, many years that because of my ability I could beat the system. And I was wrong.

You get desensitized to pain and for three and a half years I developed these symptoms of Brain Damage - you forget what you did the night before. You have to get out when the doctors tell you to, otherwise you`re on queer street for the rest of your life. One doctor said to me before a big fight, your neurological report doesn`t look too good. I was like four fights away from a big, big fight and he said, `Mickey, how much are they paying you? Look at your tests - you won`t be able to count the money`.

I was very immature when I was young, and for me there was no balance. Everything was just all or nothing.

(On his film Spun (2002)) I didn`t care for the material and I wasn`t real interested in the cast. But two years ago I put myself in the hands of an agent, David Unger at ICM, and he said `Do the movie.` So I did.

I never look backwards. I have always been an athlete. I boxed before I acted.

What I`ve got to do now is let them judge me for who I am as an actor and not for my notoriety.

I always knew I`d accomplish something very special - like robbing a bank perhaps.

All that prosthetic makeup drains you. By the time it`s lunch, you`re done.

I didn`t have a childhood, really, because I worked my whole life and... other reasons. So when I had some success, I went ballistic. That was my childhood, and the party kept going on. I didn`t get off my motorcycle for 10 years. - On his earlier success.

I had some things I had to fix. It took me 14 years to do it. But it was never really fun back in the day to work with directors who were a lot older and were like authoritarian and talking to you like that.

They have great strip clubs in Austin, Texas, so I would have my fan club... I would have the girls come up and we would, ah... talk.

I trained like an animal, but the thing is focus and concentration. When the bell rings it`s like when the little red light goes on over the camera. And I can usually nail my lines on the first or second take because I`m right there.

It was either therapy or die.

A lot of the stuff I am now seeing is edgy, raw kinda material.

I lost the house, the wife, the credibility, the entourage. I lost my soul. I was alone ... I`m sort of OK with it now, but the first time I`m in there, pushing a f***ing cart, getting my supper. I used to go to the 24-hour place in gay town, so no one would recognize me. The only thing I could afford was a shrink, so that`s where my money went. Three times a week for the first two years. The year after that, twice a week and now I`m down to once a week. I`ve only missed two appointments in six years.

(On The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)) It was the most fun I`ve ever had on a movie. It was one of the happiest times in my life. I was living in New York, and I really enjoyed acting at the time. [pauses] Also, it`s funny because that was also the time when I went downhill. - 2003.

I had a lot of anger inside me and that came out at times that were not particularly advantageous to me career-wise.

It`s the formulaic studio movies the make money, and when they do, the actors in them are automatically movie stars.

Doing physical or fighting scenes in movies is really the hardest part, so wherever I could have the stunt guy do it, I`d prefer to have him do it.

Years ago I realized that maybe I made mistake, politically, when I turned a lot of that stuff down. I would go off to obscure places and make movies that six people went to see.

I started to shortcircuit because I had high aspirations for the film. I never told anybody that.

I always knew I`d accomplish something very special - like robbing a bank perhaps.

All I am hoping for is to be able to work-I think my best work is still ahead of me-I think all that I have been through in the last several years have only made me a better, more interesting actor.

I had a bonding problem when I went off and boxed for five years. I was over in Europe and Asia fighting because I wanted to do something different; I was tired of acting. But the thing is, when I was done doing that, I couldn`t get a job.

[On what he wants in a woman:] "It`s like when I buy a horse. I don`t want a thick neck and short legs."

It was the most fun I`ve ever had on a movie. It was one of the happiest times in my life. I was living in New York, and I really enjoyed acting at the time. Also, it`s funny because that was also the time when I went downhill.

I thought my talent would transcend my outspokenness. I was wrong. I`m willing to give them 100 per cent this time. I just want a second chance at Hollywood. [1994]

Comeback is a good word, man.

A couple of guys won Academy Awards for the things that I turned down. Today, after coming to terms with everything, after being in therapy for a long time-there are areas where I will compromise.

George is doing a hell of a job during very difficult times, more power to him. Screw all them people who don`t like him. - On President George W. Bush

I`ve talked to my priest a lot. I used to have to call him or the shrink when there was an explosion, because I was really good at not talking to anybody until there was an explosion. My priest is this cool Italian from New York. We go down to his basement and he opens the wine. We smoke a cigarette and I have my confession. He sends me upstairs to do my Hail Mary`s. I mean, I`m no Holy Joe, but I have a strong belief. If I wasn`t Catholic I would have blown my brains out. I would pray to God. I would say, `Please can you send me just a little bit of daylight.` He talked me out of it and we started meeting. His name is Father Pete and he lives in New York. Father Pete put me back on the right track.