Muhammad Ali Quotes

I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'

I'll tell you how I'd like to be remembered: As a black man who won the heavyweight title - Who has humorous and who never looked down on those who looked up to him - A man who stood for freedom, justice and equality - And I wouldn't even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was.

Rest but never quit. Even the sun has a sinking spell each evening. But it always rises the next morning. At sunrise, every soul is born again.

We all have the same God, we just serve him differently. Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water. So do religions have different names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different ways forms and times. It doesn't matter whether you're a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew. When you believe in God, you should believe that all people are part of one family. If you love God, you can't love only some of his children.

Success is not achieved by winning all the time. Real success comes when we rise after we fall. Some mountains are higher than others. Some roads steeper than the next. There are hardships and setbacks but you cannot let them stop you. Even on the steepest road you must not turn back.

Don't count the days, make the days count.

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

Even the greatest was once a beginner. Don't be afraid to take that first step.

You dont lose if you get knocked down; you lose if you stay down.

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

If we continue to think and live as if we belong only to different cultures and different religions, with separate missions and goals, we will always be in self-defeating competition with each other. Once we realize we are all members of humanity, we will want to compete in the spirit of love.

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.

If you look at the world the same way when you're 50 that you did when you were 20, then you wasted 30 years.

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

When you're right, nobody remembers. When you're wrong, nobody forgets.

What you are thinking is what you are becoming.

Champions have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.

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

Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths.

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

Most people don't pray until they're in trouble. When people need help they pray a lot. But after they get what they want, they slow down. If a man takes five showers a day, his body will be clean. Praying five times a day helps me clean my mind.

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

It's hard to beat a guy when he's got his mind made up that he's going to win.

Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer.

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

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

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

Whatever the challenge was, however unattainable the goal may have seemed, I never let anyone talk me out of believing in myself.

True success is reaching our potential without compromising our values.

There comes a time in every person's life when he has to choose the course his life will take.

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.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

I came back to Louisville after the Olympics with my shiny gold medal. Went into a luncheonette where black folks couldn't eat. Thought I'd put them on the spot. I sat down and asked for a meal. The Olympic champion wearing his gold medal. They said, "We don't serve niggers here." I said, "That's okay, I don't eat 'em." But they put me out in the street. So I went down to the river, the Ohio River, and threw my gold medal in it.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

It's not bragging if you can back it up.

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.

God gave me this illness to remind me that I'm not Number One; He is.

Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don't let yourself believe it will happen to you.

I'm a Muslim. I've been a Muslim for 20 years. . . . You know me. I'm a boxer. I've been called the greatest. People recognize me for being a boxer and a man of truth. I wouldn't be here representing Islam if it were terrorist. . . . I think all people should know the truth, come to recognize the truth. Islam is peace.

You're not going to enjoy every minute of the journey, but the success you'll find at the end will make it all worth it.

This life is not real. I conquered the world and it did not bring me satisfaction.

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.

I have learned to live my life one step, one breath, and one moment at a time, but it was a long road. I set out on a journey of love, seeking truth, peace and understanding. I am still learning.

I never thought of losing, but now that it' s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.

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

There are billions of people in the world, and every one of them is special. No one else in the world is like you.

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.

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

I don't smoke but I keep a match box in my pocket, when my heart slips towards sin, I burn the matchstick and heat my palm with it, then say to myself, "Ali you can't even bear this heat, how would you bear the unbearable heat of hellfire?"

It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.