Muhammad Ali Quotes

113 Sourced Quotes

When you saw me in the boxing ring fighting, it wasn't just so I could beat my opponent. My fighting had a purpose. I had to be successful in order to get people to listen to the things I had to say.

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
I always liked to chase the girls. Parkinson's stops all that. Now I might have a chance to go to heaven.

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

Muhammad Ali
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.

Muhammad Ali
If Ali says a mosquito can pull a plow, don't ask how. Hitch him up.

Muhammad Ali
It's possible for the heavyweight champion of the world to be with one woman.

Muhammad Ali
I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong.
On the draft

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

Muhammad Ali
If the culprits are Muslim, they have twisted the teachings of Islam. Whoever performed, or is behind, the terrorist attacks in the United States of America does not represent Islam. God is not behind assassins.

Muhammad Ali
Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life.

Muhammad Ali
Only a man who knows what it is 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
What's really hurting me, the name Islam is involved, and Muslim is involved and causing trouble and starting hate and violence. … Islam is not a killer religion. … Islam means peace, I couldn't just sit home and watch people label Muslims as the reason for this problem.

Muhammad Ali
Since I won't let the critics seal my fate, they
keep hollering I'm full of hate.
But they don't really hurt me none, 'cause
I'm doing good and having fun.

Muhammad Ali
I was a Muslim.... I didn't hate nobody. I ain't preached no violence but I couldn't take that army step.

Muhammad Ali
I don't like to fight, don't like to hurt anybody. I just want to make a living and enjoy the good things in life.

Muhammad Ali
During my boxing career, you did not see the real Muhammad Ali. You just saw a little boxing and a little showmanship. It was after I retired from boxing that my true work began.

Muhammad Ali
I am a Muslim and there is nothing Islamic about killing innocent people in Paris, San Bernardino, or anywhere else in the world... True Muslims know that the ruthless violence of so called Islamic Jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion... We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda... They have alienated many from learning about Islam. True Muslims know or should know that it goes against our religion to try and force Islam on anybody.

Muhammad Ali
I love boxing and it did a lot for me. But sometimes it made me think how savage human beings could be to each other. That wasn't the kind of boxer I wanted to be. My strategy was to be as scientific as I could when I fought. I didn't want to be seriously hurt, and I didn't want to do that to anybody else either.

Muhammad Ali
When asked "What would you like people to think about you when you've gone?":
I'd like for them to say he took a few cups of love, he took one tablespoon of patience, teaspoon of generosity, one pint of kindness. He took one quart of laughter, one pinch of concern, and then, he mix willlingness with happiness, he added lots of faith, and he stired it up well, then he spreads it over his span of a lifetime, and he served it to each and every deserving person he met.

Muhammad Ali
In a competition of love we'll all share in the victory, no matter who comes first.

Muhammad Ali
The greater our level of understanding, the harder the tests become.

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

Muhammad Ali
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.

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
My soul has grown over the years, and some of my views have changed. As long as I am alive, I will continue to try to understand more because the work of the heart is never done. All through my life I have been tested. My will has been tested, my courage has been tested, my strength has been tested. Now my patience and endurance are being tested. Every step of the way I believe that God has been with me. And, more than ever, I know that he is with me now. 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. l am still learning.

Muhammad Ali
We have one life
It soon will be past
What we do for God
Is all that will last.

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

Muhammad Ali
I knew I had him in the first round. Almighty God was with me. I want everybody to bear witness. I am the greatest! I'm the greatest thing that ever lived. I don't have a mark on my face, and I upset Sonny Liston, and I just turned twenty-two years old. I must be the greatest. I showed the world. I talk to God everyday. I know the real God. I shook up the world. I'm the king of the world. You must listen to me. I am the greatest! I can't be beat!
After defeating Sonny Liston for the first time (25 February 1964)

Muhammad Ali
When your mother dies, it really hurts. But with time, you get used to it. That's nature's way.

Muhammad Ali