“It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe.”
“Nobody has to tell me that this is a serious business. I'm not fighting one man. I'm fighting a lot of men, showing a lot of 'em, here is one man they couldn't defeat, couldn't conquer. My mission is to bring freedom to 30m black people”
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”
“Fifty years old, 212 fights, and I'm still pretty.”
“I didn't deny nothing I believe. I'm still the same everything.”
“I'm most proud of my family.”
“I live. I travel. I eat. I pray. These are the things I do. I'd rather be in my condition than be a man with four children in a four-bedroom house, working hard every day to pay for his house, taking his children to school.”
“A lot of boxers' features change - mainly when I fight 'em”
“The man who will whip me will be fast, strong and hasn't been born yet.”
“If we continue to think and live as if we belong only to different cultures and different religions, with separate missions and goals, we will always be in self-defeating competition with each other. Once we realize we are all members of humanity, we will want to compete in the spirit of love.”
“Black people we've been taught that we will never be free, until some will have to die, some will have to give up wealth, their loved ones, and their health, So, what I'm doin' is for myself and for justice for black people, runnin' will kill it all, it'll make me a coward.”
“I had something to do, which most kids really need. Something they can look forward to - a goal, a purpose to work towards. Something to achieve. Keeps them out of trouble.”
“We can't be brave without fear.”
“I was always at the gymnasium every day at six o'clock after school. In the mornings I would run, looking forward to future golden gloves and Olympic tournaments.”
“Some gems for the greatest of them all”
“Who's gonna dare to be great?”
“If the boxers are a little more colorful, talk a little like I did and just do half as much as I did for boxing, it will be all right.”
“No pork, soda pop, cigarettes, alcohol – ever!”
“Now I had won the gold medal. But it didn't mean anything, because I didn't have the right color skin.”
“I was saying "I'm the greatest" long before I believed it.”
“Don't feel sorry for me.”
“That man was beautiful. Timing, speed, reflexes, rhythm, his body, everything was beautiful. And to me, still, I would say pound for pound... I'd say I'm the greatest heavyweight of all time, but pound for pound, I still say Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest of all time.”
“My only fault is that I don't realize how great I really am.”
“You could be the world's best garbage man, the world's best model; it don't matter what you do if you're the best.”
“The one thing I don't understand is war.”
