Muhammad Ali Quotes

“I'll show you how great I am.”

“I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale, handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail. Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I'm so mean I make medicine sick.”

“I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.”

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

“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.”

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

“Don't count the days; make the days count.”

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

“They stand around and say, 'Good fight, boy: you're a good boy; good goin'.' They don't look at fighters to have brains. They don't look at fighters to be businessmen, or human, or intelligent. Fighters are just brutes that come to entertain the rich white people. Beat up on each other and break each other's noses, and bleed, and show off like two little monkeys for the crowd, killing each other for the crowd. And half the crowd is white. We're just like two slaves in that ring.”

“I ain't got nothing against no Viet Cong; no Viet Cong never called me nigger.”

“Eat your words! I am the greatest! I shook up the world! I'm the prettiest thing that ever lived.”

“It was the closest thing to dying that I know.”

“I thought Ali was just one more knockout victim until, about the seventh round, I hit him hard to the jaw and he held me and whispered in my ear: 'That all you got, George?' I realized that this ain't what I thought it was.”

“I think I'm too old. I was slow. I was weak. Nothing but Father Time. The things I wanted to do, I couldn't do. I think I'm finished. I know it's the end. I'm not crazy.”

“If I had a son who wanted to be a fighter and I couldn't talk him out of it, the only man I would let train him is Angelo Dundee.”

“That's when little Cassius Clay from Louisville, Kentucky, came up to stop Sonny Liston. The man who annihilated Floyd Patterson twice. He was gonna kill me! But he hit harder than George. His reach is longer than George's. He's a better boxer than George. And I'm better now than I was when you saw that 22-year-old undeveloped kid running from Sonny Liston. I'm experienced now, professional. Jaws been broke, been knocked down a couple of times, I'm bad! Been chopping trees. I done something new for this fight. I done wrestled with an alligator. That's right. I have wrestled with an alligator. I done tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail. That's bad! Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I'm so mean I make medicine sick. Bad, fast! Fast! Fast! Last night I cut the light off in my bedroom, hit the switch and was in the bed before the room was dark. And you George Foreman, all you chumps are going to bow when I whup him. All of ya. I know you've got him. I know you've got him picked. But the man's in trouble. I'm going to show you how great I am.”