If you don't know your own value, somebody will tell you your value, and it'll be less than you're worth.
Bernard Hopkins
I don't really look toward the future. I only look at the present.
Always have to think like a guy with no food in his refrigerator.
I am a proud man and never takes things for granted in my life.
I learned a lot from being in hell. I learned discipline. I learned that I choose what to put in my body.
I don't react and think off emotions - that gets you in a bad situation.
When they say you can't, show them you can.
My whole career, I got a lot of credit for not taking punches.
A body that doesn't move mentally or physically dies.
The young is always there to replace what we call the old. That's the process, even in nature.
You cannot go into combat without putting the work in.
Just because you started off one way don't mean the ending of the book has to be the way you started.
If you get your body right, you get your mind right, whatever you do, you have a fighting chance, and you have a chance to be victorious.
I have to be smarter than my opponents. I have to figure out their styles in the ring. I have to be three or four steps ahead of them. So my mind has to be sharp.
Age is not an enemy to me.
One thing I want people to know before I leave this game is I gave it my all.
Yes, we have to look at our opponents and study our opponents. But you have to look at you first and know you can do it.
I like to do things that are noncombat- or boxing-related. So I jump rope a lot, and then I run a lot.
When you grow up hard, when you grow up surviving, unfortunately, it helps.
Age is not a problem. It becomes a problem when people try and make us think old.
If you read Bernard Hopkins' name in the dictionary, the definition would be 'discipline.'
I've had a hard life. I smell and sense fear. I didn't get that from Catholic school; I know what fear is.
If I can create an atmosphere to make my job easier and your confidence less, why not?
Hagler was a puncher-slugger. He'd box sometimes, but boxing wasn't his forte. His thing was relentless punishment and 'beat you.'
There is nothing more important than staying alert, reading your opponent, that counts for both inside and outside the ring.
I'm the guy still driving a Nissan.
Money is great, but history is something that you can never get rid of and act like it didn't happen.
Protect yourself at all times. It's what I talk to school kids and college kids about when I do my seminars. I'm not just talking about in the ring. Protect yourself at all times.
I like the old school, then I add the new school, and I got a concoction of greatness. I can't miss; you can't miss with that.
There's more to life than having things: a Rolls-Royce, a big house, bling bling.
I don't have a diet. Jenny Craig got a diet. Seriously. I eat to live, not to die.
I'm special, in a way that is good. I don't have to explain 'special.' There is no definition for special. Special speaks for itself.
If you smoke, plain and simple, stop smoking. If you drink, plain and simple, stop.
I want to be the spokesman for the 40-and-older crowd, inspiring people to believe that no matter their age, they can be healthy and save their lives.
If I was a bad guy, I probably would be incarcerated.
I think I got the ability to speak the truth, and that gets in peoples' heads.
It's the inner that produces the outer.
I'm a guy that likes to work in the spa and get on the elliptical.
Some people might think they're invincible, but I don't.
If I go to a restaurant, which I do often, I know what I want, and it's not on the menu half the time. Half the time, they have to adjust the menu or what they got in the back, and they'll make it for me.
Father Time is whether you're an athlete or not an athlete. Father Time is always around. I think I'm just special.
I have an orthodox style that a southpaw is confused with me.
I don't drink occasionally. I don't drink on the holidays. I don't drink alcohol, period. Not wine, not nothing.
I'm tired of proving myself.
They had to debate whether Joe Frazier should be in the Boxing Hall of Fame or not. I'm making sure that it would be a felony to sit down and debate whether or not Bernard Hopkins deserves to be in the hall of fame.
Boxing should not let - we should not let - the people in business of boxing should not let a person to just walk right in and get the grand prize of boxing. You can't do it in basketball, football, hockey.
Most of my fights are intelligent.
The worst damage a person - a fighter or even a person that's just everyday living - is shorten your life by your lifestyle.
I don't think I can get Jack Nicholson to come out and watch me fight.
I say the sweet science is to hit and not get hit.
