MUHAMMAD ALI QUOTES
American boxer (1942- )
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
a poem written after his match with George Foreman, 1974
Float like a butterfly! Sting like a bee! Rumble, young man! Rumble! Waaa!
MUHAMMAD ALI
The Greatest: My Own Story
The man who has no imagination has no wings.
MUHAMMAD ALI
Newsweek, 1975
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
Esquire, Feb. 2012
Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 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? No I'm not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. 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
attributed, Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties
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
The Soul of a Butterfly
Don't count the days, make the days count.
MUHAMMAD ALI
attributed, Dark Horses & Underdogs: The Greatest Sports Upsets of All Time
Comedy is a funny way of being serious. My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.
MUHAMMAD ALI
Esquire, Feb. 2012
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
The Soul of a Butterfly
What you are thinking about, you are becoming.
MUHAMMAD ALI
Esquire, Feb. 2012
This life is not real. I conquered the world and it did not bring me satisfaction.
MUHAMMAD ALI
attributed, Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing
The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.
MUHAMMAD ALI
interview, Playboy, Nov. 1975
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
interview with David Frost, 1972
If Ali says a mosquito can pull a plow, don't ask how. Hitch him up.
MUHAMMAD ALI
Time Magazine, Jun. 14, 1999
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
attributed, Muhammad Ali: The People's Champion
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
The Greatest: My Own Story
Watching George come back to win the title got me all excited. Made me want to come back. But then the next morning came, and it was time to start running. I lay back in bed and said, "That's okay, I'm still the Greatest."
MUHAMMAD ALI
Esquire, Feb. 2012
It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am.
MUHAMMAD ALI
attributed, 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 twelve, 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
Sports Illustrated, Mar. 9, 1964
Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them--a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster. They have to have the skill and the will, but the will must be stronger than the skill.
MUHAMMAD ALI
attributed, Reader's Digest, Mar. 1998