Top 591 Quotes & Sayings by Muhammad Ali

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American boxer Muhammad Ali.

Last updated on December 24, 2024.

Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, and is frequently ranked as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. In 1999, he was named Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated and the Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC.

American - Boxer | January 17, 1942 - June 3, 2016

Source: Wikipedia

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

Muhammad Ali

What keeps me going is goals.

Muhammad Ali

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

Muhammad Ali

My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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, hospitalised a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick.

Muhammad Ali

My only fault is that I don't realize how great I really am.

Muhammad Ali

Friendship... is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.

Muhammad Ali

I said I was 'The Greatest,' I never said I was the smartest!

Muhammad Ali

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.

Muhammad Ali

Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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.

Muhammad Ali

No one knows what to say in the loser's locker room.

Muhammad Ali

The word 'Islam' means 'peace.' The word 'Muslim' means 'one who surrenders to God.' But the press makes us seem like haters.

Muhammad Ali

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.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

I'll beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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.

Muhammad Ali

My toughest fight was with my first wife.

Muhammad Ali

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.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

Allah's the Arabic term for God. Stand up for God, fight for God, work for God and do the right thing, and go the right way, things will end up in your corner.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

I shook up the world, I shook up the world.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.

Muhammad Ali

I'm the greatest thing that ever lived! I'm the king of the world! I'm a bad man. I'm the prettiest thing that ever lived.

Muhammad Ali

Joe Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head.

Muhammad Ali

The name Muhammad is the most common name in the world. In all the countries around the world - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon - there are more Muhammads than anything else. When I joined the Nation of Islam and became a Muslim, they gave me the most famous name because I was the champ.

Muhammad Ali

It will be a killer, and a chiller, and a thriller, when I get the gorilla in Manila.

Muhammad Ali

I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing, and the shadow won.

Muhammad Ali

Cassius Clay is a name that white people gave to my slave master. Now that I am free, that I don't belong anymore to anyone, that I'm not a slave anymore, I gave back their white name, and I chose a beautiful African one.

Muhammad Ali

Old age is just a record of one's whole life.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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.

Muhammad Ali

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.

Muhammad Ali

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.

Muhammad Ali

Go up in an airplane. Go high enough, and it's like we don't even exist.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

I should be a postage stamp, because that's the only way I'll ever get licked. I'm beautiful. I'm fast. I'm so mean I make medicine sick. I can't possibly be beat.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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.

Muhammad Ali

Sonny Liston is nothing. The man can't talk. The man can't fight. The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. And since he's gonna fight me, he needs falling lessons.

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali

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

Muhammad Ali