Muhammad Ali Quotes

So I didn't pass. It was the army's decision that they didn't want me to go into the service. They're the boss. I don't want to say no whole lot about it.

But when I looked at a lot of the questions they had on them army tests, I just didn't know the answers. I don't even know how to start after finding the answers. That's all.

Boxing's a rough sport. After every fight I rush to the mirror to make sure I'm presentable.

"I'm the greatest thing that ever lived! I'm the king of the world! I'm a bad man. I'm the prettiest thing that ever lived. I shook up the world! I want justice..."

I just felt the power and the meanness of the man I was messing with.

All black Americans have slave names. They have white names; names that the slave master has given to them.

I saw that streak in him when he told me, 'Get the hell out of here or I'll wipe you out., I got the hell out of there, Liston really scared me.

The fact is I never was too bright in school. I just barely graduated. I had a D- average. I ain't ashamed of it, though. I mean, how much do principals make a month?

The crowd did not dream when they laid down their money that they would see a total eclipse of the Sonny!

All I want now is to be a nice, clean gentleman. I've proved my point. Now I'm going to set an example for all the nice boys and girls. I'm through talking

Malcolm X got famous mainly by being hard on white people, white devils, blue-eyed blond-headed dogs.

I had to prove you could be a new kind of black man. I had to show the world.

We followed the Honorable Elijah Mohammed, who is the boss. And we don't waste a lot of time arguin' about a dead black man, Malcolm X, when the whites are our common enemies.

Oh! how the hours hasten to change into days, the days into months, the months into years, and those into life's annihilation!

You can't take no Chinese man and give him no Puerto Rican woman and talking like they're in love and emotionally in love and physically.

I'm the greatest, I'm a bad man, and I'm pretty!

Everything the black people are doing comes from the Honorable Elijah Mohammed. They are black now, they don't want to be called Negroes. This come from the Honorable Elijah Mohammed.

I just try to stay half way decent looking. Boxing's a rough sport and you get hit a lot.

This boldness in telling the truth overshadows sport greatly. You couldn't get Joe Frazier or no boxer on this show and get interest in a subject like this. He couldn't talk about it.

Black men - one might be the president. Well, America's in too much trouble - I don't want that job now.

We black people, as a whole, are at war we'll say with the white power structure. Not physically, but we have definite protests to win the battle.

It's impossible for 30 million black people to be violent against 170 million - we need a mental revolution, unity in coming together, and not physical.

I started out making $4 for my first fight, but imagine paying $25,000 for a painting...look at me!

You made a big mistake by letting me come, because now I'm going after your job

Catching flies is better training than hitting the speed bag

Don't ever squeeze a fighter's hand, man. You're doing good just to lay your eyes on me

I'm most proud of my family.

I'd like to live to a hundred.

I'm going to, not I'm gonna. Talk intelligent

Stay away from the ropes

I’m gonna whup whoever stole my bike!

My definition of evil is unfriendliness.

Since I won't let the critics seal my fate, they keep hollering I'm full of hate. But they don't really hurt me none, 'cause I'm doing good and having fun.

Believe me, a thousand friends suffice thee not; In a single enemy thou hast more than enough.

Who is the descendant of the slavemasters a descendant of slaves to fight other people in thier own country?

Before I became a Muslim, I ate pork and chased women--but all that stuff stopped.

I'm not into fashion at all. I always wear the same thing: dark suits. I don't even know where I get them.

There were so many fellows ranked over me I couldn't just whoop them all. I had to out-shadow them by talking.

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

Who would have thought when they came to the fight? That they'd witness the launching of a human satellite.

God works through people. It’s not me.

I was lucky, from the age of 12 I had boxing talent and was good for my age.

People sold everything - their cars, their land for miles, to come in and see me beat. I went to the bank laughing every time.

I was always at the gymnasium every day at six o'clock after school. In the mornings I would run, looking forward to future golden gloves and Olympic tournaments.

I was always curious. And I always wondered why I had to die to go to Heaven.

If you were surprised when Nixon resigned, just watch what happens when I whup Foreman's behind!

You can be free. You can be black. Look at me! I'm the Heavyweight Champion! Can't nobody stop me.

I won the Olympic gold medal in Rome, Italy. Olympic champion. The Russian standing right here, and the Pole right here.

Being Ali's doctor is somewhat like being gynacologist to the Queen of England. One does not have to do much to receive good press.

Why are they picking on boxing? It's because the black men are so superior in boxing that they want to stop it. Well, the black man's so hungry he's got to fight.