Quotes
Quotes to inspire and reflect
Holly Holm
20
Muhammad Ali shook up the world. And the world is better for it
25
I'd see people being really successful, whether it was my teammates or big-name fighters like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, and I'd think, 'I want to be a legend like that’.
23
Dick Schaap
24
In fifty years of covering the sport, of course Muhammad Ali is by far the dominant figure.
25
Muhammad Ali is a true hero, and the fact there's something wrong with him is his badge of valour. He's a great man.
25
Muhammad Ali - he was a magnificent fighter and he was an icon... Every head must bow, every knee must bend, every tongue must confess, thou art the greatest, the greatest of all time, Muhammad, Muhammad Ali.
25
Muhammad Ali was a god, an idol and an icon. He was boxing. Any kid that had the opportunity to talk to Ali, to get advice from Muhammad Ali, was privileged. He's always given me time to ask questions, although I was so in awe that I didn't ask questions.
21
You get these moments in the ring that live forever. That's what Muhammad Ali accomplished, and I hope that I have, too.
14
Sugar Ray Leonard
25
Gerry Cooney
15
If you're a person struggling to eat and stay healthy, you might have heard about Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali, but you'll never have heard of Bill Gates.
10
Muhammad Ali was the kind of guy you either loved or hated, but you wanted to see him. I happen to really love him. He brought boxing to another level and always made you laugh.
10
Hunter S. Thompson
11
George Foreman
10
That was always the difference between Muhammad Ali and the rest of us. He came, he saw, and if he didn't entirely conquer - he came as close as anybody we are likely to see in the lifetime of this doomed generation.
14
In boxing, I had a lot of fear. Fear was good. But, for the first time, in the bout with Muhammad Ali, I didn't have any fear. I thought, 'This is easy. This is what I've been waiting for'. No fear at all. No nervousness. And I lost.
11
Norman Mailer
7
To Joe Frazier
10
The world’s greatest athlete is in danger of being our most beautiful man. Women draw an audible breath. Men look down…for he is the Prince of Heaven.
9
Ali taunts Ernie Terrell, who had refused to acknowledge Ali's change of name before their bout in 1967
12
I saw your wife. You’re not as dumb as you look.
10
Ali taunts Liston during their second fight in 1965
13
What's my name, fool? What's my name?
11
He’s (Sonny Liston) too ugly to be the world champ. The world champ should be pretty like me.
11
Get up sucker and fight. Get up and fight.
12
Ali taunts George Foreman, in the rope-a-dope fight in Zaire in 1974.
16
That all you got, George?
14
Ali's got a left, Ali's got a right - when he knocks you down, you'll sleep for the night; and when you lie on the floor and the ref counts to ten, hope and pray that you never meet me again.
10
You think the world was shocked when Nixon resigned? Wait till I whup George Foreman's behind.
12
Joe Frazier is the greatest of all time, next to me.
10
It will be a killer, and a chiller, and a thriller, when I get the gorilla in Manila.
9
Joe Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head.
11
Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the U.S. Bureau of Wild Life.
10
On beating Sonny Liston
9
He was supposed to kill me. Well I am still alive.
10
Before fighting Sonny Liston
9
Why, chump, I bet you scare yourself to death just starin’ in the mirror. You ugly bear. You never fought nobody but tramps and has-beens. You call yourself a world champion? You’re too old and slow to be a champion.
8
You’ve got to give him credit – he put up a good fight for one and a half rounds.
9
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, hospitalized a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick.
11
I strongly object to the fact that so many newspapers have given the American public and the world the impression that I have only two alternatives in taking this stand: either I go to jail or go to the Army. There is another alternative and that alternative is justice. If justice prevails, if my Constitutional rights are upheld, I will be forced to go neither to the Army nor jail. In the end I am confident that justice will come my way for the truth must eventually prevail.
8
There is one hell of a difference between fighting in the ring and going to war in Vietnam.
11
After the Supreme Court quashed his conviction for draft evasion.
10
It’s like a man been in chains all his life and suddenly the chains are taken off. He’s doesn’t realize he is free until he gets all the circulation back in his legs and starts to feel his fingers.
13
People say I talk so slow today. That’s no surprise. I calculated I’ve taken 29,000 punches. But I earned $57m and I saved half of it. So I took a few hard knocks. Do you know how many black men are killed every year by guns and knives without a penny to their names? I may talk slow, but my mind is OK.
8
I didn't want to submit to the army and then, on the day of judgment, have God say to me, 'Why did you do that?' This life is a trial, and you realize that what you do is going to be written down for Judgment Day.
9
When I meet a new person, I don’t see race or religion. I look deeper. We must learn to satisfy our conflicts peacefully and to respect one another.
9
My gloves are going to jail. They ain't done nothin' — yet.
10