Dane Barbados Jr. Presents: Quotes from the King, Mr. T

On being a versatile performer: "I'm talented and flexible. I could play Hamlet, even though I look like King Kong."

On the duality of existence: "I'm tough and tender at the same time."

On turning the other cheek: "If I fought every time somebody called me a name, I would never get out of jail. But I'm disciplined. I'm smarter than that."

On adult literacy: "If I couldn't read, I wouldn't have gotten the part in Rocky III. If you can't read, the only thing you can do is enjoy the pictures, not the whole story."

On the thin line between fantasy and reality: "That's the message I tell the kids; white kids, black kids, whatever. They need to know that Mr. T is real, and that's the advantage we have. Batman, Rifleman, Superman, Iron Man, Tin Man, they might be nice guys, but they're not real. They can't go into schools. They can't go into the neighborhoods."

On seeking the presidency: "See, if I run for president, they'd be controlling me. Right now, I'm free. I can say it like it is. If I run for president, people will say, 'No, Mr. T, don't write about drugs, you're the president.' Politics, they make strange bedfellows, with deals and whatnot. I couldn't be a president. It ain't worth the headache or the pressure. The money's too low, and all that stuff."

On Michael Jackson: "I go out and see a kid grabbing his crotch. Ain't nobody telling them that. Where do they get it from? They watch MTV. I say, 'If you wash up more often, you won't have to grab your crotch.'"

On fashion: "I maybe wear two, three pairs of shoes the whole year. I don't need a whole lot of shoes to change into to try to impress somebody. Basically, I wear sandals, like Jesus."

Still on Michael Jackson: "I'm telling these guys, 'Why you gotta grab your crotch?' Then you see Michael Jackson grabbing his crotch fifty times. What's with him?"

On special interests: "If I tell a kid not to smoke, the tobacco industry is mad. Tell 'em you don't drink beer, the beer company gets pissed. I tell a kid don't do drugs, the drug dealers are mad. Stepping on toes. Can't no ordinary guy do this, because they're afraid, they don't have a backbone, they don't have the balls, they don't have the guts."

On his questionable career choices: "I don't turn down nothing but my collar."

On Divine Right: "I believe in the Golden Rule - The man with the gold... rules."

On humility: "Next to God, there is no better protector than I."

On the Method: "It takes a smart guy to play dumb."

On the hardships of his forefathers: "My gold jewelry is genuine and worth around $300,000. It takes me about an hour to put it on, and most nights I clean it in an ultrasonic cleaner, although some nights I sleep in it to see how my ancestors, who were slaves, felt."

On having realistic aspirations: "People talk about being like Mike. No, I want to be like Jesus.