To win takes a complete commitment of mind and body. When you can't make that commitment, they don't call you a champion anymore.

I'd be conceited if I said I could, but I'd be lying if I said I couldn't.

Why waltz with a guy for 10 rounds if you can knock him out in one?

Roland La Starza was tough, but Ezzard Charles was the toughest man I ever fought. I learned what pain was all about when I fought him.

I was on my face. I heard the count from one to 10. I kept telling myself that I had to get up, but I couldn't move. I couldn't make myself move. It was the strangest feeling.

Liston is like most big bullies, if you can stay away and make him miss for a few rounds he'll get frustrated. Once you strip away that feeling of invincibility, he can be had.

What could be better than walking down any street in any city and knowing you're the heavyweight champion of the world?

That was a f****g dumb question. If I didn't think I was gonna win, why the hell would I be fighting?!

In the ring, I never really knew fear.

The greatness of Marciano in the ring was defined by the way he prepared for a fight, his ability to punch and take a punch.

I believe, in my prime, I could have fought with anybody alive.

If we first purify our souls, we desire to dwell in clean surroundings.

A cold, calculating nightmare. Sharp as a finely honed blade. 'The Lucid Dreaming' cuts, separating the flesh before you even know you've been injured. It makes you bleed as a reader.

Julia looked back at Hadassah on the bloodstained sand. A great emptiness opened within her as she looked at the still form. Gone, too, was the salt that had kept her from completely corruption.

Physical love is total intimacy. It is the sign that the lovers have nothing to refuse each other, that they belong wholly to each other.

Paranoid? Probably. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face.

God gave me my money.

Love is admiring with the heart. And admiring is loving with the mind.

You could drop me off in the middle of a sea of people, and I'm happy.

I never pick up an item without thinking of how I might improve it.