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

Report

POST

“Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

Report

POST

“I don’t trust anyone who’s nice to me, but rude to a waiter because they would treat me the same if I were in that position.”

Report

POST

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.”

Report

POST

“A man who has no imagination has no wings."

Report

POST

“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.”

Report

POST

“Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

“I would like to be remembered as a man who won the heavyweight title three times. Who was humorous and who treated everyone right. As a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him, and who helped as many people as he could. As a man who stood up for his beliefs no matter what. As a man who tried to unite all humankind through faith and love. And if all that's too much, then I guess I’d settle for being remembered only as a great boxer who became a leader and a champion of his people. And I wouldn’t even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was.”

Report

POST

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If not, pretend you are.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

“My principles are more important than the money or my title.”

Report

POST

“Wisdom is knowing when you can't be wise.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

"I shook up the world. Me! Whee!"

Report

POST

“I'm young; I'm handsome; I'm fast. I can't possibly be beaten.”

Report

POST

“I love children. I can never pass them by without saying something to them. They make you want to start life all over again.”

Report

POST

“I don’t have to be what you want me to be.”

Report

POST

“My way of joking is, to tell the truth. That’s the funniest joke in the world.”

Report

POST

“The critics only made me work harder.”

Report

POST

“It’s funny, but those who hate me the most sometimes inspire me the most.”

Report

POST

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth."

Report

POST

"Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee. You can't hit what your eyes don't see."

Report

POST

“When you want to talk about who made me, you talk to me. Who made me, is me.”

Report

POST

“Inside of a ring or out, ain't nothing wrong with going down. It's staying down that's wrong.”

Report

POST

“My only fault is that I don’t realize how great I really am.”

Report

POST

“When it comes to love, compassion, and other feelings of the heart, I am rich.”

Report

POST

“We can’t be brave without fear.”

Report

POST

“What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming.”

Report

POST

“I’m not the greatest, I’m the double greatest.”

Report

POST

“Live every day as if it were your last because someday you're going to be right.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

“There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people.”

Report

POST

“Friendship is a priceless gift that cannot be bought nor sold, but its value is far greater than a mountain made of gold.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

“I should be a postage stamp. That's the only way I'll ever get licked."

Report

POST

“I loved the smell of horse and hay and the sight of their beautiful bodies. Somehow it inspired me to train harder so my body could be in condition like that.”

Report

POST

“Too many easy victories can ruin a fighter just as much as a long line of defeats.”

Report

POST

“At home, I am a nice guy: but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.”

Report

POST

“No one starts out on top. You have to work your way up.”

Report

POST

"I'm so mean, I make medicine sick."

Report

POST

“I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.”

Report

POST

“I don’t count my sit-ups; I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

“Jokes? There are no jokes. The truth is the funniest joke of all.”

Report

POST

“I know I can learn to hit without getting hit.”

Report

POST

“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.”

Report

POST

“What keeps me going is goals.”

Report

POST

“My wealth is in my knowledge of self, love, and spirituality.”

Report

POST

“Champions aren't made in gyms.”

Report

POST

“I’ve never let anyone talk me into not believing in myself.”

Report

POST

“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.”

Report

POST

“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.”

Report

POST

“I do everything to make the fight come out my way, but if I’m defeated I have to get up and come back again, no matter how humiliating the loss.”

Report

POST

“I got speed and endurance. You’d better increase your insurance.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

"I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world."

Report

POST

“You don’t have to be in a boxing ring to be a great fighter. As long as you are true to yourself, you will succeed in your fight for that in which you believe.”

Report

POST

“You lose nothing when fighting for a cause.”

Report

POST

“I calculate that I took 20,000 punches, but I earned millions and kept a lot of it. I may talk slow, but my mind is OK.”

Report

POST

“I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own.”

Report

POST

“No one knows what to say in the loser’s locker room.”

Report

POST

“Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

“I’ve wrestled with alligators. I’ve tussled with a whale. I did handcuffed lightning. And throw thunder in jail.”

Report

POST

“Not only do I knock ’em out, but I also pick them round.”

Report

POST

“We spend more time learning how to make a living than we do learning how to make a life.”

Report

POST

“Think well of all, be patient with all, and try to find the good in all.”

Report

POST

“I believe in the eye-for-an-eye business. I’m no cheek turner.”

Report

POST

“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 taking 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.”

Report

POST

“Life is so, so short. Bible says it’s like a vapor.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

“The greatest victory in life is to rise above the material things that we once valued most.”

Report

POST

“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.”

Report

POST

“When I won the Golden Gloves in 1960, that made me realize I had a chance. And when I won at the Olympics, that sealed it: I was the champ.”

Report

POST

“It’s in my blood to be around people while I was training.”

Report

POST

“People don’t realize what they had till it’s gone. Like President Kennedy, there was no one like him, the Beatles, and my man Elvis Presley. I was the Elvis of boxing.”

Report

POST

“I’ve made my share of mistakes along the way, but if I have changed even one life for the better, I haven’t lived in vain.”

Report

POST

“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.”

Report

POST

“The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road; long before I dance under those lights.”

Report

POST

“You are as old as you think you are.”

Report

POST

“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.”

Report

POST

“I know no fighter can survive the loss if he feels sorry for himself when he’s defeated.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

“I had always come home like the victorious hunter bringing back big game from the jungle.”

Report

POST

"I had always been the one who picked up all the stragglers and stray followers."

Report

POST

“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.”

Report

POST

“I'm the most recognized and loved man that ever lived cuz there weren’t no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn’t know about them.”

Report

POST

“Give up what appears to be doubtful for what is certain. Truth brings peace of mind, and deception doubt.”

Report

POST

“You lose nothing when fighting for a cause... In my mind, the losers are those who don't have a cause they care about.”

Report

POST

“There is a science to making your opponent wear down.”

Report

POST

“I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.”

Report

POST

“Life is a gamble.”

Report

POST

“I learn to put my head within hitting range, force my opponent to throw blows, then learn back and away.”

Report

POST

“It takes a lot out of a fighter to throw punches that land in thin air.”

Report

POST

"He’s (Sonny Liston) too ugly to be the world champ. The world champ should be pretty like me!"

Report

POST

“How tall are you? So I can know in advance how far to step back when you fall down!”

Report

POST

“I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and peace.”

Report

POST

“There are no pleasures in a fight, but some of my fights have been a pleasure to win.”

Report

POST

“Put yourself out on a limb, like me!”

Report

POST

“Truly great people in history never wanted to be great for themselves. All they wanted was the chance to do good for others and be close to God.”

Report

POST

“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.”

Report

POST

“I have never heard anything that affected me like those words: ‘Heavyweight Champion of the World.’”

Report

POST

“It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”

Report

POST

“Now you see me, now you don't.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

“I said I was ‘The Greatest,’ I never said I was ‘The Smartest!’”

Report

POST

“I may have been the best fighter, but I was also the poorest. I had never been able to afford a first-class mouthpiece to protect my teeth. I had to wait until other fighters finished so I could borrow their headgear, or their trunk or bandages.”

Report

POST

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

Report

POST

“His hands can’t hit what his eyes can't see.”

Report

POST

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it.”

Report

POST

"My toughest fight was with my first wife."

Report

POST

“Age is whatever you think it is.”

Report

POST

“Each time I thought I had achieved my ‘life’s purpose,’ I discovered it was only another step in my journey.”

Report

POST

“When you win so long, so much, you forget — you think your name will win. You forget the sacrifices, the work that goes into winning.”

Report

POST

“When a fighter is beaten, everybody who believes in him is beaten too — his family, his friends, his children, the people who cheer him on, who give him their love, their hope, their pride.”

Report

POST

“Superman don't need no seat belt.”

Report

POST

“Put yourself out on a limb, sucka, like me!”

Report

POST

“It takes pride and tiger’s drive to build up the confidence, the ego the power to defeat an opponent in the ring.”

Report

POST

“I don’t get hit. I’m the fastest thing on two feet, man!”

Report

POST

“I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given. I believed in myself, and I believe in the goodness of others.”

Report

POST

“Old age is just a record of one’s whole life.”

Report

POST

“My style, my stamina, my system were molded down in the basement of a church in East End.”

Report

POST

“Others may know pleasure, but pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.”

Report

POST

“Recognize how every moment of our journey is an important part of the growth of our soul.”

Report

POST

“The thing that matters is how you lose. I’m not crying. My friends should not cry.”

Report

POST