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.

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

All black Americans have slave names. They have white names; names that the slave master has given to them.

I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick; I’m so mean I...

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

All of us are so mixed. My great-grandfather was white.

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

I have been so great in boxing they had to create an image like Rocky, a white image on the screen, to counteract my image in the ring. America has to have its white images,...

Joe Frazier got hit more than me – and he doesn’t have Parkinson’s.

I try not to speak about all the charities and people I help, because I believe we can only be truly generous when we expect nothing in return.

I’m just hoping that people understand that Islam is peace and not violence.

Never put your money against Cassius Clay, for you will never have a lucky day.

I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and peace.

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

My trainer don’t tell me nothing between rounds. I don’t allow him to. I fight the fight. All I want to know is did I win the round. It’s too late for advice.

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

I would say things like ‘I am the greatest! I’m pretty! If you talk jive, you’ll drop in five! I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! I’m pretty!’ When white people heard me...

No one knows what to say in the loser’s locker room.

I always bring out the best in men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I’ll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I’m gonna tell ya, that’s one helluva man, and God...

Truly great people in history never wanted to be great for themselves. All they wanted was the chance to do good for others and be close to God.

Sonny Liston is nothing. The man can’t talk. The man can’t fight. The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. And since he’s gonna fight me, he needs falling lessons.

When I won the Golden Gloves in 1960, that made me realize I had a chance. And when I won at the Olympics, that sealed it: I was the champ.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

I figure I’ll be champ for about ten years and then I’ll let my brother take over – like the Kennedys down in Washington.

To make America the greatest is my goal, so I beat the Russian and I beat the Pole. And for the U.S.A. won the medal of gold. The Greeks said, ‘You’re better than the Cassius...

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

If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize.

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

Often it isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you out, it’s the little pebble in your shoe.

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.

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

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...

Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams – they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do – they all contain truths.

People don’t realize what they had till it’s gone. Like President Kennedy, there was no one like him, the Beatles, and my man Elvis Presley. I was the Elvis of boxing.

I’ll beat him so bad he’ll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.

You lose nothing when fighting for a cause … In my mind the losers are those who don’t have a cause they care about.

Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some...

There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people.

Impossible is nothing.

What keeps me going is goals.

I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.