Quotes from Muhammad Ali

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

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

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

My main fight is for freedom and equality.

I'm not trying to get power over white. I'm involved in a freedom struggle. Not a power struggle.

If you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.

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

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

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

I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin' hell, but as long as they ain't free, I ain't free.

I hospitalized a rock, killed a brick...I'm so bad I make medicine sick!

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

When a chivalrous man makes an oath, he is faithful to it, and when he attains power, he spares his enemy.

I'm the best. I just haven't played yet.

I'm retiring because there are more pleasant things to do than beat up people.

For every struggle that Joe survived, For every dispute he endured, to rise, Joe will go down in history as a model for champions to come. While Frazier was a man of few words, Ali was a world of mouth, but he found his place in history. Now his heart can express him well. Joe Frazier was a silent warrior, whom Ali silently admired. One could not rise without the other.

I done handcuffed lightning / And throw thunder in jail / You know I'm bad / Just last week / I murdered a rock / Injured a stone / Hospitalized a brick / I'm so mean, I make medicine sick.

Float like a butterfly! Sting like a bee! Rumble, young man! Rumble! Waaa!