A Quote by William Klein

I was making a film on Muhammad Ali in 1964, and I went to Miami to film everything around the fight for the world championship with Sonny Liston. I had the good luck of flying down to Miami, and there was one empty seat, and the guy sitting next to this empty seat was Malcolm X.

William Klein

Quote Topics

Ali Around Championship Down Empty Everything Fight Film Flying Good Good Luck Guy Had Luck Lying Down Making Malcolm Miami Muhammad Next Seat Sitting World World Champion World Champions

Quote Author

William Klein
French - Photographer
Born: April 19, 1928

For every moment of triumph, there is an unequal and opposite feeling of despair. Take that iconic photograph of Muhammad Ali standing triumphantly over the prostrate, semiconscious wreckage of Sonny Liston. Great photo. Now think of Liston. Do the pleasure/pain calculus.

Charles Krauthammer

Whenever I travel I like to keep the seat next to me empty. I found a great way to do it. When someone walks down the aisle and says to you, "Is someone sitting there?" just say, "No one except the Lord."

Carol Leifer

Once I beat Gervonta Davis like I've been calling it, that's going to be like history repeats itself with Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali.

Ryan Garcia

I grew up in a gym in Miami, the one where Muhammad Ali trained. I had 142 amateur fights and lost three.

Mickey Rourke

As good as we were, we didn’t win a National Championship until 1993, mainly because we kept losing to Miami on missed kicks. I used to get mad because nobody else would play Miami. Notre Dame would play them, then drop them. Florida dropped them. Penn State dropped them. We would play Miami and lose by one point on a missed field goal, and it would knock us out of the National Championship. I didn’t want to play them, either, but I had to play them. That’s why I said, 'When I die, They’ll say, ‘At least he played Miami.'

Bobby Bowden

Yes, I do go to movies with my female friends. But I make sure there is an empty seat between us. That seat will only be filled by my wife whenever she comes in my life.

Ankit Tiwari

If they opened things up and I could build a luxury condominium in Vedado, I would sell them in two hours here in Miami. Cubans in Miami would be the first to buy. In Miami, 80 percent of the people we sell to are foreigners. Havana is a city very similar to Miami... There's good music, good theater, good ballet.

Jorge M. Perez

'Ali' offers stunning re-creations of bouts Ali fought. In the second Liston fight, the auditorium is underlighted and clouded with fetid cigar smoke, which was why the famous picture of a snarling Ali standing over Liston was so dramatic; indoor arenas are now bright enough to be spotted from Alpha Centauri.

Elvis Mitchell

I did a film on Muhammad Ali before he was champion. I was there when he became champion in 1964. I was happy to be able to document the development of a real American hero.

William Klein

I can't say I've always been a Miami Heat fan, but ever since I got down to Miami, I'm a fan of many Miami teams.

Ryan Tannehill

The word had spread and people were piling around us. But then very suddenly, Sonny Liston froze me with that look of his. He said real quiet, 'Let's go on over here.' And he led the way to a table and the people hung back. I ain't going to lie. This was the only time since I have known Sonny Liston that he really scared me.

Muhammad Ali

Put yourself out on a limb, sucka, like me! - young Cassius Clay to heavily favored thug Sonny Liston during the weigh in before Cassius wins his first title and changes his name to Muhammad Ali.

Muhammad Ali

My hero when I was 14 was Sonny Liston. No matter what kinds of problems you were having with your parents or at school, whatever, Sonny Liston would go and knock guys out, and that made it all right.

August Wilson

To me, in life, if there's, like, a rule, and I think it's ridiculous, then of course I'll circumvent that but also point out how ridiculous the rule is. Other than that, if I go to a concert, and my seat is Row G, Seat 12, I'm sitting in Row G, Seat 12. I don't care if I'm with five other friends, I'm supposed to be in Seat 12, that's my seat.

Wanda Sykes

'Ali' is a breakthrough for its director, Michael Mann. The film, based on the life of Muhammad Ali, is Mr. Mann's first movie with feeling; his overwhelming love of its subject will turn audiences into exuberant, thrilled fight crowds.

Elvis Mitchell

Jamaica is kind of similar to Miami, but to go from there to Miami, and then Miami to L.A., it's crazy.