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.

My toughest fight was with my first wife.

My only fault is that I don’t realize how great I really am.

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

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

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

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...

Superman don’t need no seat belt.

We can’t be brave without fear.

Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.

Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.

Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the U.S. Bureau of Wild Life.

The name Muhammad is the most common name in the world. In all the countries around the world – Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon – there are more Muhammads than anything else. When...

There are no pleasures in a fight but some of my fights have been a pleasure to win.

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.

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...