some quotes from Muhammad Ali

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


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.


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.


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.


Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.


Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

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.

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

I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.

I figure I'll be champ for about ten years and then I'll let my brother take over - like the Kennedys down in Washington.


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.


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.


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


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


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


It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe.


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


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


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


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


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

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

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.

Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths.


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


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


Superman don't need no seat belt.


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.


The man who has no imagination has no wings.



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.


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

It's gonna be a a killa, a chilla, and a thrilla when I get that gorilla in Manila.

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

Joe Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head.

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.


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?


"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."