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

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.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

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

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

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

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

Allah is the Greatest. I’m just the greatest boxer

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

Impossible is nothing.

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

To be able to give away riches is mandatory if you wish to possess them. This is the only way that you will be truly rich.

Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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 of old.’

My toughest fight was with my first wife.

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

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

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

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.

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

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 white name, and I chose a beautiful African one.

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

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.

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.

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

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 make medicine sick.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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 bless him.

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 they did.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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