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.

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.

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

Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like...

The greatest victory in life is to rise above the material things that we once valued most.

The fact is, I was never too bright in school. I ain’t ashamed of it, though. I mean, how much do school principals make a month?

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.

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.

I calculate that I took 20,000 punches, but I earned millions and kept a lot of it. I may talk slow, but my mind is OK.

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

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

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.

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.

I’m a fighter. I believe in the eye-for-an-eye business. I’m no cheek turner. I got no respect for a man who won’t hit back. You kill my dog, you better hide your cat.

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

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.

You can’t keep your mind on fighting when you’re thinking about a woman. You can’t keep your concentration. You feel like sleeping all the time.

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

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

When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.

This is the legend of Cassius Clay, The most beautiful fighter in the world today.He talks a great deal, and brags indeed-y, of a muscular punch that’s incredibly speed-y.The fistic world was dull and weary,But...

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.

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.

Now I had won the gold medal. But it didn’t mean anything, because I didn’t have the right color skin.

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

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

Anywhere I go, there is always an incredible crowd that follows me. In Rome, as I land at the airport, even the men kiss me. I love Rome.

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

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

My wealth is in my knowledge of self, love, and spirituality.

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

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

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

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

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...

I’m the most recognized and loved man that ever lived cuz there weren’t no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn’t know about them.

Terrorists are not following Islam. Killing people and blowing up people and dropping bombs in places and all this is not the way to spread the word of Islam. So people realize now that all...

God tries you in certain, certain ways. Some people are rich, and they believe in God. They lose the money, things get hard, they get weak and quit going to church. Quit serving God like...

I said I was ‘The Greatest,’ I never said I was the smartest!

I don’t count my sit-ups; I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

You think the world was shocked when Nixon resigned? Wait till I whup George Foreman’s behind.

When it comes to love, compassion, and other feelings of the heart, I am rich.