Muhammad Ali Quotes

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

To be a champion, you must believe in yourself when nobody else will.

I shook up the world! I shook up the world!

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.

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.

Live everyday as if it were your last.

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

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

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.

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

I’ll be floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee.

I had to prove you could be a new kind of black man. I had to show my worth to the world.

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.

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

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

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 the most recognized and loved man that ever lived cuz there weren’t no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around.

It’s not the action that makes a thing right or wrong, but the purpose behind the action.

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

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

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

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

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

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

A man who has no imagination has no wings.

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

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

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

I would have been the world’s greatest at whatever I did. If I were a garbage man, I’d be the world’s greatest garbage man! I’d pick up more cans than anyone else ever had!

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

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

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

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

What keeps me going is goals.

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.

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.

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.

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.