Portrait of Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali

Boxer, activist, greatest of all time

Modern influential 109 sayings

Sayings by Muhammad Ali

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

1960s — Interview after a fight
Wisdom Unverifiable

I’m a Muslim. I believe in Allah and peace. I don’t believe in wars or killing innocent people.

1960s — Interview
Inspirational Unverifiable

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see.

1964 — Pre-fight interview for Sonny Liston
Wisdom Unverifiable

I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning, thrown 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.

1974 — Pre-fight interview for George Foreman (Rumble in the Jungle)
Life & Death Unverifiable

If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it—then I can achieve it.

1970s — Various interviews
Inspirational Unverifiable

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.

1970s — Interview
Inspirational Unverifiable

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

1970s — Interview
Wisdom Unverifiable

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

1970s-1980s — Various speeches and interviews
Nature & World Unverifiable

I'm a fighter. I believe in the eye for an eye. I'm a man of God, but I'm also a man of war.

1970s — Interview on his beliefs
Inspirational Unverifiable

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

1960s — Interview
Wisdom Unverifiable

I've told you all, I'm a bad man. I'm the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, and I'm the most recognized face on the planet.

1970s — Interview
Nature & World Unverifiable

I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my bedroom and was in bed before the room was dark.

1960s — Interview
Life & Death Unverifiable

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

1970s — Interview
Wisdom Unverifiable

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.

1970s — Interview
Biblical Unverifiable

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

1970s — Speech to young people
Wisdom Unverifiable

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

1980s — Interview
Wisdom Unverifiable

I'm a Muslim and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm a black man in America. I want justice and equality. I want what's rightfully mine.

1960s — Interview, explaining his conversion
Justice & Rights Unverifiable

I'm going to show you how great I am!

1970s — Pre-fight declaration
Wisdom Unverifiable

I shook up the world! I shook up the world!

1964 — After defeating Sonny Liston
Wisdom Unverifiable

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

1970s — Interview
Inspirational Unverifiable
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