"You dont lose if you get knocked down; you lose if you stay down." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'll tell you how I'd like to be remembered: As a black man who won the heavyweight title - Who has humorous and who never looked down on those who looked up to him - A man who stood for freedom, justice and equality - And I wouldn't even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Even the greatest was once a beginner. Don't be afraid to take that first step." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Don't count the days, make the days count." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Success is not achieved by winning all the time. Real success comes when we rise after we fall. Some mountains are higher than others. Some roads steeper than the next. There are hardships and setbacks but you cannot let them stop you. Even on the steepest road you must not turn back." ~ Muhammad Ali
"We all have the same God, we just serve him differently. Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water. So do religions have different names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different ways forms and times. It doesn't matter whether you're a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew. When you believe in God, you should believe that all people are part of one family. If you love God, you can't love only some of his children." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision." ~ Muhammad Ali
"True success is reaching our potential without compromising our values." ~ Muhammad Ali
"What you are thinking is what you are becoming." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Just remember that you don't have to be what they want you to be." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Rest but never quit. Even the sun has a sinking spell each evening. But it always rises the next morning. At sunrise, every soul is born again." ~ Muhammad Ali
"If you look at the world the same way when you're 50 that you did when you were 20, then you wasted 30 years." ~ Muhammad Ali
"When you're right, nobody remembers. When you're wrong, nobody forgets." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The only limitations one has, are the ones they place on themselves" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I am grateful for all my victories, but I am especially grateful for my losses, because they only made me work harder." ~ Muhammad Ali
"What keeps me going is goals." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Once the Choice is Made, Do Not Look Back, Do Not Second-Guess Your Decisions" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Every day is different, and some days are better than others, but no matter how challenging the day, I get up and live it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Success is not achieved by winning all the time. Real success comes when we rise after we fall." ~ Muhammad Ali
"If we continue to think and live as if we belong only to different cultures and different religions, with separate missions and goals, we will always be in self-defeating competition with each other. Once we realize we are all members of humanity, we will want to compete in the spirit of love." ~ Muhammad Ali
"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." ~ Muhammad Ali
"You're not going to enjoy every minute of the journey, but the success you'll find at the end will make it all worth it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"There comes a time in every person's life when he has to choose the course his life will take." ~ Muhammad Ali
"What counts in the ring is what you can do after you're exhausted. The same is true of life." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Champions have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." ~ Muhammad Ali
"You lose nothing when fighting for a cause ... In my mind the losers are those who don't have a cause they care about." ~ Muhammad Ali
"We can't be brave without fear." ~ Muhammad Ali
"To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are." ~ Muhammad Ali
"A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I don't smoke but I keep a match box in my pocket, when my heart slips towards sin, I burn the matchstick and heat my palm with it, then say to myself, "Ali you can't even bear this heat, how would you bear the unbearable heat of hellfire?" " ~ Muhammad Ali
"We have one life / It soon will be past / What we do for God / Is all that will last." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I came back to Louisville after the Olympics with my shiny gold medal. Went into a luncheonette where black folks couldn't eat. Thought I'd put them on the spot. I sat down and asked for a meal. The Olympic champion wearing his gold medal. They said, "We don't serve niggers here." I said, "That's okay, I don't eat 'em." But they put me out in the street. So I went down to the river, the Ohio River, and threw my gold medal in it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Champions come and go, but to be legendary you got to have heart, more heart than the next man, more than anyone in the world." ~ Muhammad Ali
"It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The greater our level of understanding, the harder the tests become." ~ Muhammad Ali
"How many push ups do you do? I don't know. I only starts counting when it starts hurting" ~ Muhammad Ali
"If you are not the best, then pretend you are" ~ Muhammad Ali
"No one starts out on top. You have to work your way up." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The man who has no imagination has no wings." ~ Muhammad Ali
"My only fault is that I don't realize how great I really am." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even." ~ Muhammad Ali
"God will not place a burden on a man's shoulders knowing that he cannot carry it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm a Muslim. I've been a Muslim for 20 years. . . . You know me. I'm a boxer. I've been called the greatest. People recognize me for being a boxer and a man of truth. I wouldn't be here representing Islam if it were terrorist. . . . I think all people should know the truth, come to recognize the truth. Islam is peace." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you're going to be right." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The man of least capacity is the one who shows himself incapable of self-correction." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I have learned to live my life one step, one breath, and one moment at a time, but it was a long road. I set out on a journey of love, seeking truth, peace and understanding. I am still learning." ~ Muhammad Ali
"My main fight is for freedom and equality." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Women are the field that produces our nation. And if you can't protect your women, you can't protect your nation." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The greatest victory in life is to rise above the material things that we once valued most" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The one without dreams is the one without wings." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Whatever the challenge was, however unattainable the goal may have seemed, I never let anyone talk me out of believing in myself." ~ Muhammad Ali
"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see." ~ Muhammad Ali
"In the big leagues everyone has ability. It always comes down to mind games. Who ever is more mentally strong-wins." ~ Muhammad Ali
"It's hard to beat a guy when he's got his mind made up that he's going to win." ~ Muhammad Ali
"What you're thinking is what you're becoming." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me." ~ Muhammad Ali
"God gave me this illness to remind me that I'm not Number One; He is." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I don't count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. That is when I start counting, because then it really counts. That's what makes you a champion." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I do a lot of reading, a lot of studying. I ask questions, I'll go out, travel these countries, I'll watch how their people live, and I learn." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The more we help others, the more we help ourselves" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I was the first one in the gym, and the last one to leave." ~ Muhammad Ali
"There are billions of people in the world, and every one of them is special. No one else in the world is like you." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Most people don't pray until they're in trouble. When people need help they pray a lot. But after they get what they want, they slow down. If a man takes five showers a day, his body will be clean. Praying five times a day helps me clean my mind." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I try to learn as much as I can because I know nothing compared to what I need to know." ~ Muhammad Ali
"It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm gonna have to be killed before I lose, and I ain't going to die easy." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I've never let anyone talk me into not believing in myself" ~ Muhammad Ali
"If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Outrun the people who quit when they feel discomfort, outrun the people who stop because of despair, outrun the people who are delayed because of prejudice, outrun the people who surrender to failure, and outrun the opponent who loses sight of the goal. Because if you want to win, the will can never retire, the race can never stop, and faith can never weaken." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was. Don't tell me I can't do something. Don't tell me it's impossible. Don't tell me I'm not the greatest. I'm the double greatest." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The woman is the fiber of the nation. She is the producer of life. A nation is only as good as its women." ~ Muhammad Ali
"My toughest opponent has always been me." ~ Muhammad Ali
"My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Spirituality is recognizing the divine light that is within us all. It doesn't belong to any particular religion; it belongs to everyone" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Love is a net that catches hearts like a fish" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm a fighter. I believe in the eye-for-an-eye business. I'm no cheek turner. I got no respect for a man who won't hit back. You kill my dog, you better hide your cat." ~ Muhammad Ali
"It isn't the mountains that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe." ~ Muhammad Ali
"A black, a Puerto Rican and a Mexican are in a car. Who's driving? The police." ~ Muhammad Ali
"You don't want no pie in the sky when you die, You want something here on the ground while you're still around." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I outwit them, and then I outhit them" ~ Muhammad Ali
"My soul has grown over the years, and some of my views have changed. As long as I am alive, I will continue to try to understand more because the work of the heart is never done." ~ Muhammad Ali
"If I could meet anybody? The prophet Muhammad." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.… If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?" ~ Muhammad Ali
"When a man says I cannot, he has made a suggestion to himself. He has weakened his power of accomplishing that which otherwise would have been accomplished." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Inside of a ring or out, ain't nothing wrong with going down. It's staying down that's wrong." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Our only hope lies in the power of our love, generosity, tolerance and understanding and our commitment to making the world a better place for all." ~ Muhammad Ali
"When you saw me in the boxing ring fighting, it wasn't just so I could beat my opponent. My fighting had a purpose. I had to be successful in order to get people to listen to the things I had to say." ~ Muhammad Ali
"This life is not real. I conquered the world and it did not bring me satisfaction." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The will must be stronger than the skill." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Money and riches don't mean nothing to me. I don't care nothing about being no rich individual. I'm not living for glory or for fame; all this is doomed for destruction. You got it today, tomorrow it's gone. I got bigger things on my mind than that. I got Islam on my mind." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Be obedient to your superior, and your inferior will obey you." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The sun is always shining someplace." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm not trying to get power over white. I'm involved in a freedom struggle. Not a power struggle." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm sure no intelligent white person, in his or her right white mind, want black men and women marrying their white sons and daughters and in return introducing their grandchildren to half brown, kinky haired black people." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I try not to speak about all the charities and people I help, because I believe we can only be truly generous when we expect nothing in return." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The word 'Islam' means 'peace.' The word 'Muslim' means 'one who surrenders to God.' But the press makes us seem like haters." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and peace." ~ Muhammad Ali
"All through my life, I have been tested. My will has been tested, my courage has been tested, my strength has been tested. Now my patience and endurance are being tested." ~ Muhammad Ali
"There's nothing wrong with getting knocked down, as long as you get right back up." ~ Muhammad Ali
"What's really hurting me, the name Islam is involved, and Muslim is involved and causing trouble and starting hate and violence. ... Islam is not a killer religion. ... Islam means peace, I couldn't just sit home and watch people label Muslims as the reason for this problem." ~ Muhammad Ali
"If the culprits are Muslim, they have twisted the teachings of Islam. Whoever performed, or is behind, the terrorist attacks in the United States of America does not represent Islam. God is not behind assassins." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Why do I want my wife to show off her panties when the wind blows? Horses show their behinds, and cows and mules, not humans." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Prejudice comes from being in the dark; sunlight disinfects it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Tolerance and understanding won't 'trickle down' in our society any more than wealth does." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Allah's the Arabic term for God. Stand up for God, fight for God, work for God and do the right thing, and go the right way, things will end up in your corner." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The bull is stronger, but the matador is smarter." ~ Muhammad Ali
"It's the lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself. He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest." ~ Muhammad Ali
"How could they say that my religion, Islam was a 'race hate' religion after all the plunder and enslavement and domination of my people by white Christians in the name of white supremacy?" ~ Muhammad Ali
"At home I am a nice guy: but I don't want the world to know. Humble people, I've found, don't get very far." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I do need publicity but not for what I do for good. I need publicity for my book. I need publicity for my fights. I need publicity for my movie but not for helping people. Then it is no longer sincere." ~ Muhammad Ali
"To succeed,all I need to do is suffer." ~ Muhammad Ali
"What I will remember most about Mr Mandela is that he was a man whose heart, soul and spirit could not be contained or restrained by racial and economic injustices, metal bars or the burden of hate and revenge." ~ Muhammad Ali
"You can't keep your mind on fighting when you're thinking about a woman. You can't keep your concentration. You feel like sleeping all the time." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm the king of the world, I am the greatest, I'm Muhammed Ali, I shook up the world, I am the greatest, I'm king of the world, I'm pretty, I'm pretty, I'm a baaaad man, you heard me I'm a baaad man, Archie Moore fell in four, Liston wanted me more, so since he's so great, I'm a make him fall in eight, I'm a baaad man, I'm king of the world! I'm 22 years old and ain't gotta mark on my face, I'm pretty, I easily survived six rounds with that ugly bear, because I am the greatest." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong." ~ Muhammad Ali
"My health is in the hands of Allah, who has ways of testing us. Whatever happens, happens. I a'int the greatest - it's Allah. I gave myself a job. I work for God." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Islam religion has no color distinction, we are just Muslims." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I believe in the holy Koran. It says we declare ourselves to be righteous Muslims and do not take part in wars, or in no way fashion or form take the lives of humans unless it's a holy war declared by God himself." ~ Muhammad Ali
"For the black man to come out superior would be against America's teachings. I have been so great in boxing they had to create an image like Rocky, a white image on the screen, to counteract my image in the ring. America has to have its white images, no matter where it gets them. Jesus, Wonder Woman, Tarzan and Rocky." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I believe in Allah and in peace. I don't try to move into white neighborhoods... I don’t want to marry a white woman. I was baptized when I was 12, but I didn’t know what I was doing. I’m not a Christian anymore. I know where I’m going and I know the truth and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if just 10 percent of the people who believe in the power of love would compete with one another to see who could do the most good for the most people?" ~ Muhammad Ali
"God gave me Parkinson's syndrome to show me I'm not 'The Greatest' - he is." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Over the years my religion has changed and my spirituality has evolved. Religion and spirituality are very different, but people often confuse the two. Some things cannot be taught, but they can be awakened in the heart. Spirituality is recognizing the divine light that is within us all. It doesn't belong to any particular religion; it belongs to everyone." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I have not lost Allah's hope in us to show compassion where none exists and to extend mercy in the most difficult of circumstances. We as Muslims must lead by example." ~ Muhammad Ali
"You can go to Japan, China, all the European, African, Arab, and South American countries, and man, they know me. I can't name a nation where they don't know me." ~ Muhammad Ali
"My main purpose is to pray five times a day. And that's not easy." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Friendship is not something you can learn in college or some learning institution, no one knows how to become friends you just become but if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship you haven't learned anything" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Jokes? There are no jokes. The truth is the funniest joke of all." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I did not take the name, I just named myself Cassius Clay, this is a honorable, Mohammed Ali, given to me by my religious leader and teacher, the Honorable Elijah Mohammed, and I would like to say that Mohammed means in Arabic "one who is worthy of praise" and one praiseworthy, and Ali means the most High, but the slave name Clay meant dirt with no ingredients." ~ Muhammad Ali
"If Ali says a mosquito can pull a plow, don't ask how. Hitch him up." ~ Muhammad Ali
"When I meet a new person, I don’t see race or religion. I look deeper. We must learn to satisfy our conflicts peacefully and to respect one another." ~ Muhammad Ali
"His hands can't hit what his eyes can't see." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I never thought of losing, but now that it' s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life." ~ Muhammad Ali
"There's a reason I'm known - to bring people to Allah, to God." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'd like for them to say he took a few cups of love, he took one tablespoon of patience, teaspoon of generosity, one pint of kindness. He took one quart of laughter, one pinch of concern, and then, he mix willingness with happiness, he added lots of faith, and he stirred it up well, then he spreads it over his span of a lifetime, and he served it to each and every deserving person he met." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Home is the place you can go when you're whipped." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'll beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I run on the road long before I dance under the lights." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Enjoy your children, even when they don't act the way you want them to." ~ Muhammad Ali
"You could be the world's best garbage man, the world's best model; it don't matter what you do if you're the best." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The outgoing and spontaneous person that the world knew while I was boxing was a persona that I created to sell tickets and promote my career. In my private life, I am quiet and reflective by nature." ~ Muhammad Ali
"My mama told me I was already in a hurry as a child. I even had measles and chicken pox at the same time" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm so mean I make medicine sick!" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I always liked to chase the girls. Parkinson's stops all that. Now I might have a chance to go to heaven." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The worst man is the one who sees himself as the best." ~ Muhammad Ali
"It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Boxing is a stepping stone just to introduce me to the audience. If I was still in Louisville, Kentucky and never was a boxer I still might get killed next week in some kind of freedom struggle and you'd ever hear the news." ~ Muhammad Ali
"When you come to the fight Don't block the halls and don't block the door, for y'all may go home after round four." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Miss America was always white. All the beautiful brown women in America, beautiful sun tans, beautiful shapes, all types of complexions, but she always was white.And Miss World was always white, and Miss Universe was always white.And the angel fruit cake was the white cake and the devil food cake was the chocolate cake.I said, 'Momma, why is everything white?' I always wondered. And the President lived in the White House." ~ Muhammad Ali
"No woman on this whole earth can please me and cook for me and socialise and talk to me like my American black woman." ~ Muhammad Ali
"It's not bragging if you can back it up." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone and hospitalized a brick." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Do you know why I’m the fastest heavyweight in the world? I’m the only heavyweight that trains underwater!" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Christians are my brothers, Hindus are my brothers, all of them are my brothers. We just think different and believe different." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Islam is against killing, terrorism, and murder. People who commit these acts in the name of Islam are wrong. And if I had a chance I would do something about it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm too fast. I'm too smart. I'm too pretty." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I say get an education. Become an electrician, a mechanic, a doctor, a lawyer, anything but a fighter. In this trade, it's the managers that make the money and last the longest." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Get up sucker and fight. Get up and fight" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to. Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell. Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get to them." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm going to show you how great I am!" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I am the king of the world. I'm a man's man." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Some people have special resources inside, and when God blesses you to have more than others, you have a responsibility to use it right" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Hell no / I ain't going to go / Clean out my cell / And take my tail / To jail / Without bail / Because it's better there eating / Watching television fed / Than in Vietnam with your white folks dead." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I hospitalized a rock, killed a brick...I'm so bad I make medicine sick!" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Allah is the Greatest. I'm just the greatest boxer." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Brooding over blunders is the biggest blunder." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Whether it's boxing, basketball, or badminton, one must be ready to succeed before entering the arena...long before the lights come up." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I love boxing and it did a lot for me. But sometimes it made me think how savage human beings could be to each other. That wasn't the kind of boxer I wanted to be. My strategy was to be as scientific as I could when I fought. I didn't want to be seriously hurt, and I didn't want to do that to anybody else either." ~ Muhammad Ali
"There ain't no such thing as black Muslims. That's how they tried to cut off all my brothers in the rest of the world and divide us in America and make other Muslims think that we are not with them.We are all the same. I recognise them and they recognise me. I'm invited to all of their homes all over the world and I'm invited to Muslim countries." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I hated the sight on TV of big, clumsy, lumbering heavyweights plodding, stalking each other like two Frankenstein monsters, clinging, slugging toe to toe. I knew I could do it better ... circle, dance, shuffle, hit and move ... make an art out of it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"War on nations changes maps. War on poverty maps change." ~ Muhammad Ali
"They used to draw cartoons of Jews in Germany. Later they started killing them in the Holocaust." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The roughest and toughest fighter I fought was Joe Frazier" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I had it in my heart. I believed in myself, and I had confidence. I knew how to do it, had natural talent and I pursued it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"My toughest fight was with my first wife." ~ Muhammad Ali
"When it comes to love, compassion, and other feelings of the heart, I am rich." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I did not disregard my culture, if I did, it was the white American culture, and I accepted my true culture, when I accepted Mohammed Ali, because this is a black name, Islam is the black man's religion, and so I would like to say, that I would like to clarify that point that I reclaimed my real culture, and that's being a black man and wearing a black name with a black body, and not a white name, so I would never say that I didn't disown my culture." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don't let yourself believe it will happen to you." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I've never really resented hard work because I've always liked it. Up every morning for roadwork. Going to the gymnasium every day at 12 o'clock. I never change my pattern." ~ Muhammad Ali
"My wealth is in my knowledge of self, love, and spirituality." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm The Greatest, but only in relation to fighting." ~ Muhammad Ali
"God tries you in certain, certain ways. Some people are rich, and they believe in God. They lose the money, things get hard, they get weak and quit going to church. Quit serving God like they did." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm proud, and Islam did it. And after these things that I heard in church, a preacher and watching this and that, I knew something was wrong but I couldn't pinpoint it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"No pork, soda pop, cigarettes, alcohol – ever!" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm just hoping that people understand that Islam is peace and not violence." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'll destroy you. I am the master of disaster." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I don't always know what I'm talking about, but I know I'm right." ~ Muhammad Ali
"You can do what you want. But it's nature to be with your own. I want to be with my own." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Others may know pleasure, but pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man." ~ Muhammad Ali
"No black man wants a blue-eyed black child, and no white man wants a kinky-haired white child. Nature didn't mean it to be that way." ~ Muhammad Ali
"There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The only way for peace between the races is a separation of the races." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Shut up, I know what I'm doing!" ~ Muhammad Ali
"When people are forced to interact to survive, their prejudices diminish." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Santa Claus was white and everything bad was black. The little ugly duckling was the black duck, and the black cat was the bad luck. And if I threaten you, I'm going to blackmail you.I said, 'Momma, why don't they call it 'whitemail'? They lie too.'" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I only read the Holy Koran, the Bible and the sports pages" ~ Muhammad Ali
"He's too ugly to be the champ!" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I can't see what God's plan is. I just know I've got to live with it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Sometimes Howard [Cosell] makes me wish I was a dog and he was a fireplug." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Eat your words! Eat your words! I am the greatest." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I was always curious. I always wondered why Tarzan is the King of the Jungle in Africa, he was white." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I said to myself, 'the champion of the whole world can whoop every man in Russia, every man in America, every man in China, every man in Japan, every man in Europe - every man in the whole world'.It sounds big, didn't it? So I kept working until I did it." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I understand that the worst people in England at a time were ran to America, for some reason. Then slavery came and calls of aggression. But we've been there 600 years and there ain't no peace between black and whites because the cultures are different - like the Chinese and Mexicans cannot integrate: the music is different, the eating is different." ~ Muhammad Ali
"When I beat Sonny Liston, I shocked the world. When I joined the Muslims, I shocked the world. When I beat George Forman, I shocked the world. I am from the House of Shock" ~ Muhammad Ali
"There is one hell of a difference between fighting in the ring and going to war in Vietnam." ~ Muhammad Ali
"We are all God's people. We are prejudiced and we separate into Jews, Mexicans, Italians, but God doesn't see colors." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm so fast I could hit you before God gets the news." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I always bring out the best in men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I'll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I'm gonna tell ya, that's one helluva man, and God bless him" ~ Muhammad Ali
"The name Muhammad is the most common name in the world. In all the countries around the world - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon - there are more Muhammads than anything else." ~ Muhammad Ali
"When I heard the truth about my name was not Cassius Clay, like I knew a black man in America named John Hawkins. Now, you know who John Hawkins was.He was a slave trader from England. But the white people of that time, if one had five slaves and his name was Jones, they would be called Jones' property. [...] Now that I'm free, now that I'm no longer a slave, then I want a name of my ancestors." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Last night I had a dream. When I got to Africa, I had one hell of a rumble. I had to beat Tarzan's behind first, for claiming to be King of the Jungle." ~ Muhammad Ali
"When my title was taken away boxing died." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm sad because I want to bow out of my race and leave my beautiful identity? Chinese love Chinese. They love their little slant eyed, pale brown skinned babies. Pakistanis love their culture.Jewish people love their culture. A lot of Catholics want to marry Catholics because the want their religion to stay the same." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Scatter abroad what you have already amassed rather than pile up new wealth." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I should be a postage stamp, because that's the only way I'll ever get licked. I'm beautiful. I'm fast. I'm so mean I make medicine sick. I can't possibly be beat." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I tried to be the greatest boxer in the world and a good parent, too. I had instant feedback on my success as a boxer. Often, parents don't really know if what they are doing is right or wrong until their child is grown and it is too late to change any of the decisions. Whatever my failings as a parent, I am very proud of all my children. It wasn't easy for them to make their own way with such a controversial and public father." ~ Muhammad Ali
"That man was beautiful. Timing, speed, reflexes, rhythm, his body, everything was beautiful. And to me, still, I would say pound for pound... I'd say I'm the greatest heavyweight of all time, but pound for pound, I still say Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest of all time." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm the most recognised and loved man that ever lived" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Stay in college, get the knowledge. And stay there until you're through. If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you. Advice to a young person to continue his education." ~ Muhammad Ali
"If the boxers are a little more colorful, talk a little like I did and just do half as much as I did for boxing, it will be all right." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I need to be famous so I can talk about religion. I can talk about God. It's an expensive price that I have to pay to be the most famous man on earth and I do it with pleasure only for God. My fight is only and introduction to the real fight, the one for God. Fighting by itself doesn't interest me anymore. I want to help people, the black people and I need any kind of media to spread my thought: God, charity, peace." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Who's gonna dare to be great?" ~ Muhammad Ali
"What I've found is that the religion that matters, the real religion is love." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Elvis Presley was the sweetest, most humble and nicest man you'd want to know." ~ Muhammad Ali
"You have a right to say what you believe, and I have a right." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The world’s champ should be pretty like me!" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Only the nose knows Where the nose goes When the door close." ~ Muhammad Ali
"The whites have always had the say in America. White people made Jesus white, angels white, the Last Supper white. If I threaten you, I'm blackmailing you. A black cat is bad luck. If you're put out of a club, you're blackballed. Angel's-food cake is white; devil's-food cake is black. Good guys in cowboy movies wear white hats. The bad guys always wore black hats." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I strongly object to the fact that so many newspapers have given the American public and the world the impression that I have only two alternatives in taking this stand: either I go to jail or go to the Army. There is another alternative and that alternative is justice. If justice prevails, if my Constitutional rights are upheld, I will be forced to go neither to the Army nor jail. In the end I am confident that justice will come my way for the truth must eventually prevail." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Parkinson's is my toughest fight. No, it doesn't hurt. It's hard to explain. I'm being tested to see if I'll keep praying, to see if I'll keep my faith. All great people are tested by God." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Fighting by itself doesn't interest me anymore. I want to help people, the black people and I need any kind of media to spread my thought: God, charity, peace." ~ Muhammad Ali
"When a chivalrous man makes an oath, he is faithful to it, and when he attains power, he spares his enemy." ~ Muhammad Ali
"When one man of popularity can let the world know the problem, he might lose a few dollars himself. He might lose his life. But he's helping millions." ~ Muhammad Ali
"A lot of boxers' features change - mainly when I fight 'em" ~ Muhammad Ali
"My face is so pretty, you don’t see a scar, which proves I’m the king of the ring by far." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I didn't run with a gang - I didn't have time. There were a few little street gangs sitting in the spotlights at night time - talking and playing marbles. But I was so wrapped up in boxing since I was 12." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Whites have always put one against another and now they have a dead man who was nothin' but a, he admitted it himself, Malcolm X, was a tramp or had white women sellin' their body for him, he was nothin' until the Honorable Elijah Mohammed made him great, made him great, taught him, even his name X come from Elijah." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Religions all have different names, but they all contain the same truths. ... I think the people of our religion should be tolerant and understand people believe different things." ~ Muhammad Ali
"In Florida I was illiterate, Boxing Authority didn't want me, then they had a special psychiatrist to come to Kentucky, they checked and they didn't want me. But as soon as my name was Mohammed Ali, as soon as I announced I was a Muslim, then all of a sudden I became smart." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Impossible is nothing." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Ali’s got a left, Ali’s got a right, if he hits you once, you’re asleep for the night" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I just won the gold medal and I couldn't eat downtown. I said, 'Something's wrong.' And from then on, I've been a Muslim." ~ Muhammad Ali
"It will be a killer, and a chiller, and a thriller, when I get the gorilla in Manila." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Stumbling is the fruit of haste." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I’ve wrestled with alligators, I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning And throw thunder in jail. You know I’m bad. just last week, I murdered a rock, Injured a stone, Hospitalized a brick. I’m so mean, I make medicine sick." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Maybe I was great in the ring, but outside of boxing, I'm just a brother like other people. I want to live a good life, serve God, help everybody I can. And one more thing. I'm still gonna find out who stole my bike when I was 12 years old in Louisville and I'm gonna whup him. That was a good bike." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I predict that this will be the greatest book ever and it will sell more than any other book in history" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I don't have to be what you want me to be." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I can drown a drink of water. I can kill a dead tree. Don't mess with Muhammad Ali." ~ Muhammad Ali
"A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he'll never crow. I have seen the light and I'm crowing." ~ Muhammad Ali
"America don't have no future! America's going to be destroyed! Allah's going to divinely chastise America! Violence, crimes, earthquakes - there's gonna be all kinds of trouble. America's going to pay for all its lynchings and killings of slaves and what it's done to black people." ~ Muhammad Ali
"We must not only control the weapons that can kill us, we must bridge the great disparities of wealth and opportunity among the peoples of the world, the vast majority of whom live in poverty without hope, opportunity or choices in life. These conditions are a breeding ground for division that can cause a desperate people to resort to nuclear weapons as a last resort. Our only hope lies in the power of our love, generosity, tolerance and understanding and our commitment to making the world a better place." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I got nothing against no Viet Cong. No Vietnamese ever called me a << racial epithet >>." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Cassius Clay is a name that white people gave to my slave master. Now that I am free, that I don't belong anymore to anyone, that I'm not a slave anymore, I gave back their white name, and I chose a beautiful African one." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin' hell, but as long as they ain't free, I ain't free." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I have a radar built inside me to avoid punches" ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm the most recognized and loved man that ever lived cuz there weren't no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn't know about them." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Nobody has to tell me that this is a serious business. I'm not fighting one man. I'm fighting a lot of men, showing a lot of 'em, here is one man they couldn't defeat, couldn't conquer. My mission is to bring freedom to 30m black people" ~ Muhammad Ali
"If you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Your body is sacred. You’re far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too." ~ Muhammad Ali
"It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am." ~ Muhammad Ali
"If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Even today, if my title hadn't been given back to me and I was in such poverty where I had to go and find a job, I would have done that." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I used to ask my brother Rudy to throw rocks at me. I'd dodge every one. That's how I learned how to bob and weave: ducking rocks." ~ Muhammad Ali
"So now I'm going to forget the 400 years of lynching and killing raping and depriving my people feeding of justice and equality and the lowest of low last respect and I'm going to look at two or three white people who are trying to do right and don't see the other million who are trying to kill me? I'm not that big of a fool." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I need to get everything straight. I'm not involved in a power struggle between black and white." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I would like to say that whites jumped right behind Malcolm X. They’re makin’ a book about him, it’s required readin’ in all colleges now, and they’re makin’ a movie about him, and projectin’ him as the leader and if you read his book and see the movie that’s comin’ out, it’ll make you hate Elijah Mohammed and the Muslims. Mainly, this is done to turn the black people against the real leader and I’d like to say that this is the way white people rule." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Whoever listens to slander is himself a slanderer." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I shook up the world." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I calculate that I took 20,000 punches, but I earned millions and kept a lot of it. I may talk slow, but my mind is OK." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I don't know what truculent means, but if it's good, it's me" ~ Muhammad Ali
"Old age is just a record of one's whole life." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Champions are not generated from the championship. Champion is generated from something they have in them, desires, dreams, and visions." ~ Muhammad Ali
"If my fans think I can do everything I say I can do, then they're crazier than I am. After one of his fight predictions turned out to be wrong." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I love my people and I don't hate nobody and it keeps me out of trouble." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Get up and say Elijah Muhammad is wrong when he says white are the devil? They have to prove they are not the devil." ~ Muhammad Ali
"I'm not going to be that kind of a fighter. I'm going to dance and be pretty. I'm just going to win on points.And if I hurt my man I'm going to let him go and I'm not going to kill him just because somebody's watching." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Everything I got comes from Elijah Mohammed. He taught me who I was, he made me proud, he made me fearless, he made me love my own, I’ve turned down millions to keep from selling out my people, the beautiful name Mohammed Ali. And white people cannot destroy me like they have other big ministers of his in the past by telling us oh, you speak good, you should be the leader.White people make me thinkin' that I'm smart, and as soon as I leave Elijah you can get me. But as long as I stay with the Honorable Elijah Mohammed I'm safe." ~ Muhammad Ali
"Sonny Liston is great. But he'll fall in eight." ~ Muhammad Ali
"To be able to give away riches is mandatory if you wish to possess them. This is the only way that you will be truly rich." ~ Muhammad Ali
"People don't realise what they had till it's gone. Like President Kennedy - nobody like him. Like The Beatles, there will never be anything like them. Like my man, Elvis Presley - I was the Elvis of boxing." ~ Muhammad Ali