Million Dollar Baby

If there's magic in boxing it's the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys and detached retinas. It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.

People die every day, Frankie. Mopping floors, washing dishes. And you know what their last thought is? "I never got my shot." Because of you, Maggie got her shot. If she dies today, you know what her last thought will be? "I think I did all right." I know I could rest with that.

Boxing is about respect. Getting it for yourself and taking it away from the other guy.

Boxing is an unnatural act. Because everything in it is backwards. You wanna move to the left you don't step left, you push on the right toe. To move right, you use your left toe. Instead of running from the pain, like a sane person would do you step into it.

People love violence. They'll slow down at a car wreck to check for bodies. Same people claim to love boxing. They got no idea what it is.

To make a fighter, you gotta strip them down to bare wood. Rest when you're dead. Come here. You can't just tell them to forget everything you know... you gotta make them forget it in their bones. Make them so tired they only listen to you. Only hear your voice, only do what you say, and nothing else.

I will arise and go now and go to Innisfree.
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow.
Dropping from the veils of the morning, to where the crickets sings.

All fighters are pigheaded some way or other. Some part of them always thinks they know better than you about something. Can you spare a few minutes for the Immaculate Conception? Truth is, even if they're wrong... even if that one thing is gonna be the ruin of them... if you can beat that last bit out of them, then they ain't fighters at all.

Boxing is an unnatural act, that everything in boxing is backwards. Sometimes, best way to deliver a punch is step back.