Quotes from 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.

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

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

I have learned to live my life one step, one breath, and one moment at a time, but it was a long road.

I sought advice and cooperation from those around me--but not permission.

The outgoing and spontaneous person that the world knew while I was boxing was a persona that I created to sell tickets and promote my career. In my private life, I am quiet and reflective by nature.

Over the years my religion has changed and my spirituality has evolved. Religion and spirituality are very different, but people often confuse the two. Some things cannot be taught, but they can be awakened in the heart. Spirituality is recognizing the divine light that is within us all. It doesn't belong to any particular religion; it belongs to everyone.

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.

No boxer in the history of boxing has had Parkinson's. There's no injury in my brain that suggests that the illness came from boxing.

I'm the greatest thing that ever lived. I'm so great I don't have a mark on my face. I shook up the world.

Rocky doesn't act nothing like me. Apollo Creed, the way he dances, the way he jabs, the way he talks.... That's me.

Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it and I don't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free man -- it means "Beloved of God" -- and I insist people use it in speaking of and to me.

I'm the greatest fighter in the entire world, how can I be afraid? I love people and people love me.

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

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.

If you were surprised when Nixon resigned, just watch what happens when I whup Foreman's behind!

Now I'm not sayin' just to be funny, but I'm fightin' Ernie because he needs the money.

I'm not into fashion at all. I always wear the same thing: dark suits. I don't even know where I get them.

Before I became a Muslim, I ate pork and chased women--but all that stuff stopped.

There live a great man named Joe / who was belittled by a loudmouth foe / While his rival would taunt and tease / Joe silently bore the stings / And then fought like gladiator in the ring

When I was 9, I saw a wrestler on television named Gorgeous George. He said, "I'm beautiful. I'm so pretty that if a sucker touches my face, I'll kill him. If he messes with my hair, I'll pummel him." I said to myself, "That's a good idea. I am the greatest, I'm pretty." And then I took it a little further than he did.

The time when Christ was 33, so I could see if he really got up from the grave. Or maybe I'd go back to the time of Cleopatra, before Marc Antony got tight with her. I'd try to hit on her first.

You been hearing about how bad I am since you were a little kid with mess in your pants! Tonight, I'm gonna whip you till you cry like a baby.

Ain't no reason for me to kill nobody in the ring, unless they deserve it.