When it comes to love, compassion, and other feelings of the heart, I am rich.

It takes a lot out of a fighter to throw punches that land in thin air

I learn to put my head within hitting range, force my opponent to throw blows, then learn back and away.

Life is a gamble.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion’.

The thing that matters is how you lose. I’m not crying. My friends should not cry.

There is a science to making your opponent wear down.

I got speed and endurance. You’d better increase your insurance.

I don’t have to be what you want me to be.

Recognize how every moment of our journey is an important part of the growth of our soul.

My only fault is that I don’t realize how great I really am.

You lose nothing when fighting for a cause … In my mind the losers are those who don’t have a cause they care about.

Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.

Others may know pleasure, but pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.

I believe in the an eye-for-an-eye business. I’m no cheek turner.

When a fighter is beaten, everybody who believes in him is beaten too — his family, his friends, his children, the people who cheer him on, who give him their love, their hope, their pride

My style, my stamina, my system were molded down in the basement of a church in East End.

I do everything to make the fight come out my way, but if I’m defeated I have to get up and come back again, no matter how humiliating the loss.

When you win so long, so much, you forget — you think your name will win. You forget the sacrifices, the work that goes into winning.

Give up what appears to be doubtful for what is certain. Truth brings peace of mind, and deception doubt.

No one starts out on top. You have to work your way up.

Each time I thought I had achieved my ‘life’s purpose,’ I discovered it was only another step in my journey.

Age is whatever you think it is.

Think well of all, be patient with all, and try to find the good in all.

My toughest fight was with my first wife.

I loved the smell of horse and hay and the sight of their beautiful bodies. Somehow it inspired me to train harder so my body could be in condition like that.

I had always been the one who picked up all the stragglers and stray followers.

I had always come home like the victorious hunter bringing back big game from the jungle.

If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.

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.

When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.

When you are as great as I am it is hard to be humble.

I know no fighter can survive the loss if he feels sorry for himself when he’s defeated.

His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.

We spend more time learning how to make a living than we do learning how to make a life.

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.

Old age is just a record of one’s whole life.

I love children. I can never pass them by without saying something to them. They make you want to start life all over again.

If you lose a big fight, it will worry you all of your life. It will plague you — until you get your revenge.

Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.

I’ve made my share of mistakes along the way, but if I have changed even one life for the better, I haven’t lived in vain.

Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.

The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.

Wisdom is knowing when you can’t be wise.

I have never heard anything that affected me like those words: ‘Heavyweight Champion of the World.

Superman don’t need no seat belt.

Live every day as if it were your last because someday you’re going to be right.

I’m not the greatest, I’m the double greatest.

The critics only made me work harder.

People don’t realize what they had till it’s gone. Like President Kennedy, there was no one like him, the Beatles, and my man Elvis Presley. I was the Elvis of boxing.

It’s in my blood to be around people while I was training.

Too many easy victories can ruin a fighter just as much as a long line of defeats.

Truly great people in history never wanted to be great for themselves. All they wanted was the chance to do good for others and be close to God.

When I won the Golden Gloves in 1960, that made me realize I had a chance. And when I won at the Olympics, that sealed it: I was the champ.

What keeps me going is goals.

My principles are more important than the money or my title.

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.

No one knows what to say in the loser’s locker room.

The greatest victory in life is to rise above the material things that we once valued most.

Don’t count the days; make the days count.

I know I can learn to hit without getting hit.

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.

Jokes? There are no jokes. The truth is the funniest joke of all.

I don’t trust anyone who’s nice to me, but rude to a waiter because they would treat me the same if I were in that position.

It’s funny, but those who hate me the most sometimes inspire me the most.

To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If not, pretend you are.

Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.

Put yourself out on a limb, like me!

It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.

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.

It’s not bragging if you can back it up.

He’s (Sonny Liston) too ugly to be the world champ. The world champ should be pretty like me.

Life is so, so short. Bible says it’s like a vapor.

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.

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.

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.

I shook up the world. Me! Whee!

What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming.

We can’t be brave without fear.

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.

Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee. You can’t hit what your eyes don’t see.

There are no pleasures in a fight, but some of my fights have been a pleasure to win.

I should be a postage stamp. That’s the only way I’ll ever get licked.

I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was. I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I was really the greatest.

Braggin’ is when a person says something and can’t do it. I do what I say.

The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.

If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize.

It isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you down. It’s the pebble in your shoe.

I would like to be remembered as a man who won the heavyweight title three times. Who was humorous and who treated everyone right. As a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him, and who helped as many people as he could. As a man who stood up for his beliefs no matter what. As a man who tried to unite all humankind through faith and love. And if all that’s too much, then I guess I’d settle for being remembered only as a great boxer who became a leader and a champion of his people. And I wouldn’t even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was.

I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.

If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it—then I can achieve it.” Jesse Jackson said this as early as 1983, according to the Associated Press, and Ali used it in his 2004 book.

You don’t have to be in a boxing ring to be a great fighter. As long as you are true to yourself, you will succeed in your fight for that in which you believe.

I don’t count the sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count. That’s what makes you a champion.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see. Now you see me, now you don’t. George thinks he will, but I know he won’t.

I’ve been everywhere in the world, seen everything, had everything a man can have.

I’m young; I’m handsome; I’m fast. I can’t possibly be beat.

I’m gonna float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.

I’ve seen George Foreman shadow boxing, and the shadow won.

It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up

It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.

I’m the most fun-loving guy you’ll ever meet.

Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.

I’m the best. I just haven’t played yet.

I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.

I said I was ‘The Greatest,’ I never said I was the smartest!

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.

I’m not the greatest; I’m the double greatest. Not only do I knock ’em out, I pick the round.

It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.

My way of joking is to tell the truth. That’s the funniest joke in the world.

What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming.

I’ve wrestled with alligators. I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning, and thrown thunder in jail.

I’ve always wanted to be more than just a boxer.

I am the onliest person that can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.

Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them—a desire, a dream, a vision.

Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

I am the king of the world!

I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I’m in a world of my own.

I’ve wrestled with alligators, I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning, and throw thunder in jail.

Friendship is not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.

It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.

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.

If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.

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.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

It’s not bragging if you can back it up.

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.

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.