" If you were to rush into this room right now and announce that you had struck a deal with God, Allah, Buddha, Christ, Krishna, Bill Gates, whoever - in which the ten years since my diagnosis could be magically taken away, traded in for the person I was before, I would, without a moment's hesitation. tell you to take a hike." (From Michael's autobiography, Lucky Man)
" I didn't want to do metal work and get my hands all nicked up and be around guys. So I took drama because there were a lot of girls."
'' I got sick of turning on the TV and seeing my face.
"
" After a year or so I really thought I was Howard Hughes. Here I was at 18 years old, getting all these checks. I didn't have or understand credit. If I wanted something, I just went out and bought it. I didn't understand the tax situation. If I got a check for $1000 I thought that meant $1000 to spend. I was a dumb kid." (talking about his Hollywood debuts 1984.)
" The laughs mean a lot more to me than the adoration. If two girls walk up to me and one says "you're cute" , I'll say thank you, but i appreciate it more when the other one says "you make me laugh so much." (1984.)
'' If the question is, am I ever comfortable? In the sense you would think? No. Never. But am I comfortable to me? A lot of times.''
" Everybody in the world knew I was, before I knew who I was."
" I wouldn't have wanted to miss the opportunity to make those three films that didn't do well. They were really important to me, and the things I learned doing them were important to me." (talking about "Light of Day", "Bright Lights, Big City" and "Casualties of War")
" Tracy is more a help to me than I am to her."
" I worked very hard on these movies but there was some creative connection that wasn't being made." (talking about his early 90's movies.)
" Family is not an important thing, it's everything."
" I didn't want to do a Family Ties type show. It never really represented my outlook and my sense of humor. I'm at once very optimistic and very cynical, and on this show (Spin City) I can be that."
" I love the irony. I'm perceived as being really young and yet I have the clinical condition of an old man." (1998.)
" In my 50's I'll be dancing at my children's weddings."
" Boy, talk about being misquoted. I tell one reporter I went to the park with my son, and the next thing I know I'm on the cover of PEOPLE." (Michael J. Fox told the crowd at a New York awards show, about his being on the cover of People magazine when he announced he had PD.)
" I can get sad, I can get frustrated, I can get scared, but I never get depressed... because there's joy in my life."
" By the way this mike has PD." (Michael joking with the reporters when he saw his microphone was shaking.)
" I'm kind of private and I keep things inside a lot, but it's been so wonderful to realize that people care about you in a very deep way and that there is some bond between an actor and his audience. I don't even know how to describe that feeling."
One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but cannot be taken away unless it is surrendered. (Michael J. Fox, in "Saving Milly" by Morton Kondrake.)
'' I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business.'' (Michael J. Fox, quoted by Lorne A. Adrain in 'The Most Important Thing I Know.)
'' I'm going to marry a Jewish woman because I like the idea of getting up Sunday morning and going to the deli.'' (quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, 1988.)
" What I've learned through having Parkinson's and doing my work and not telling people about it is that whatever I'm perceived to be doing, I'm doing something else. I'm managing a physical situation. It taught me great discipline and an awareness of what I can expect from myself." (GQ Interview, November 1999.)
Audience Member to Michael J. Fox: What do you feel is the secret to your success?
Michael J. Fox: (pauses)...Vitamins? (The Phil Donahue Show, 1980's)
" Pain is temporary. Film is forever."
" My attitude is that this person paid my rent, that one bought the car, that one paid for the hockey tickets." (Michael J. Fox on His Fans, 1980's)
" You know what I want? The answer is, I truly don't know what I want. I don't want to do a television series. I want to do dramas as well as comedies, but I have no idea what kind or in what order. Just give me the chance at them. Give me the chance to be someone new occasionally. Alex Keaton, the Boy Prince - well, he can't stay with people forever. I'm sorry. He's grown up, he's gone, he's on his way to...whatever." ("Michael J. Fox on His Hollywood Ups and Downs" by Michael Leahy, TV Guide, June 22, 1991.)
" I had all the usual ambition growing up. I wanted to be a writer, a musician, a hockey player. I wanted to do something that wasn't 9 - 5. Acting was the first thing I tried that clicked." ("Fox Riding Crest to Popularity" by Los Angeles Associated Press, Port Arthur News, September 20, 1985.)
" There's nothing like directing for a control freak, but on the other hand, as Bob Zemeckis says, it's like being nibbled to death by ducks...I thought about people who made independent films and documentaries who spend 15 years trying to get a directing deal and here I am, with this guy calling me. But then I told myself, 'Don't waste any time being guilty. If you feel a challenge, do it!' The only thing worse than an opportunity you don't deserve, is blowing an opportunity." ("Michael J. Fox: The Future Is Now" by Don Yakir, Cabletime, April 1987.)
" I was just saying, 'Yes, I'm free; let's fit it in and do it,' without considering whether the script was any good, or the thing had a chance to be successful. I guess I wanted to use the time to make as many movies as I could before they pulled the plug on me, because I felt it'd happen then. Face it, this town is a lottery system for actors. One year, you're it, and the next you're gone. I thought, 'Let's do some weird films before it all ends. Maybe they'll think I'm complicated and interesting because of it.' So, I'd sign the contracts and be there and then I'd have to do something that wasn't ready or right sometimes." ("Michael J. Fox on His Hollywood Ups and Down" by Michael Leahy, TV Guide June 22, 1991.)
" My son will have a fairly stable future. Not one where the schoolyard talk is whose father grossed $8 million on his last picture."
