Muhammad Ali: 60 Quotes From The Greatest Muhammad Ali

Last Updated on March 1, 2022

I’m the greatest, I’m a bad man, and I’m pretty!

The quotes of Muhammad Ali will inspire you to the core. His wise words will help you in harnessing your inner champion.

The greatest Muhammad Ali’s motto was simple, float like a butterfly and sting like a bee which not only applies in the ring but also in life. Ali never gave up and always stood up by becoming better, faster and stronger. There is a reason why he is said to be the greatest.

I have compiled some of his famous and inspiring quotes which will not only help you in becoming the greatest but also wise.

Let’s get started with our list of 60 Muhammad Ali’s quotes.

Muhammad Ali Quotes

1. “I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.… If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.” – Muhammad Ali

2. “You’re my opposer when I want freedom; You’re my opposer when I want justice; You’re my opposer when I want equality; You won’t even stand up for me in America for my religious beliefs and you want me to go somewhere and fight, but you won’t even stand up for me here at home!” – Muhammad Ali

Related: Lessons From Muhammad Ali

3. “I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.” – Muhammad Ali

4. “My main fight is for freedom and equality.” – Muhammad Ali

5. “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.” – Muhammad Ali

6. “I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin’ hell, but as long as they ain’t free, I ain’t free.” – Muhammad Ali

7. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” – Muhammad Ali

8. “It’s in my blood to be around people while I was training.” – Muhammad Ali

9. “My trainer doesn’t tell me anything 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.” – Muhammad Ali

10. “Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.” – Muhammad Ali

11. “The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road; long before I dance under those lights.” – Muhammad Ali

12. “Champions aren’t made in gyms.” – Muhammad Ali

13. “I say get an education. Become an electrician, a mechanic, a doctor, a lawyer, anything but a fighter. In this trade, it’s the managers that make the money and last the longest.” – Muhammad Ali

14. “My principles are more important than the money or my title.” – Muhammad Ali

15. “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.” – Muhammad Ali

16. “Money and riches don’t mean nothing to me. I don’t care nothing about being no rich individual. I’m not living for glory or for fame; all this is doomed for destruction. You got it today, tomorrow it’s gone. I got bigger things on my mind than that. I got Islam on my mind.” – Muhammad Ali

17. “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 go on. You just don’t let yourself believe it will happen to you.” – Muhammad Ali

18. “A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.” – Muhammad Ali

19. “If you lose a big fight, it will worry you all of your life. It will plague you – until you get your revenge.” – Muhammad Ali

20. “I’ve made my share of mistakes along the way, but if I have changed even one life for the better, I haven’t lived in vain.” – Muhammad Ali

21. “Old age is just a record of one’s whole life.” – Muhammad Ali

22. “We have one life it soon will be past what we do for God is all that will last” – Muhammad Ali

23. “Don’t count the days; make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali

24. “This life is not real. I conquered the world and it did not bring me satisfaction. God gave me this illness to remind me that I’m not number one, He is.” – Muhammad Ali

25. “It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.” – Muhammad Ali

26. “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” – Muhammad Ali

27. “The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.” – Muhammad Ali

28. “The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.” – Muhammad Ali
29. “The man with no imagination has no wings.” – Muhammad Ali

30. “What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming.” – Muhammad Ali

31. “Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.” – Muhammad Ali

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

33. “If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, then they can sure make something out of you.” – Muhammad Ali

34. “Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.” – Muhammad Ali

35. “It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.” – Muhammad Ali

36. “It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.” – Muhammad Ali

37. “Jokes? There are no jokes. The truth is the funniest joke of all.” – Muhammad Ali

38. “What keeps me going is goals.” – Muhammad Ali

39. “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.” – Muhammad Ali

40. “Allah is the Greatest. I’m just the greatest boxer.” – Muhammad Ali

41. “Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.” – Muhammad Ali

42. “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.” – Muhammad Ali

43. “Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams — they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do — they all contain truths.” – Muhammad Ali

44. “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.” – Muhammad Ali

45. “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.” – Muhammad Ali

46. “I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.” – Muhammad Ali

47. “The greatest victory in life is to rise above the material things that we once valued most.” – Muhammad Ali

48. “I don’t count my sit-ups; I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count.” – Muhammad Ali

49. “If you even dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologize.” – Muhammad Ali

50. “When it comes to love, compassion, and other feelings of the heart, I am rich.” – Muhammad Ali

51. “My wealth is in my knowledge of self, love, and spirituality.” – Muhammad Ali

52. “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.” – Muhammad Ali

53. “It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.” – Muhammad Ali

54. “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” – Muhammad Ali

55. “I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I’m in a world of my own.” – Muhammad Ali

56. “There are no pleasures in a fight but some of my fights have been a pleasure to win.” – Muhammad Ali

57. “I wanted to use my fame and this face that everyone knows so well to help uplift and inspire people around the world.” – Muhammad Ali

58. “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.” – Muhammad Ali

59. “I should be a postage stamp. That’s the only way I’ll ever get licked.” – Muhammad Ali

60. “I’ve wrestled with alligators / I’ve tussled with a whale / I done handcuffed lightning / And throw thunder in jail.” – Muhammad Ali

Also Read: Quotes By The Legend Milkha Singh Thanks for reading.

Winding Up

When I read these quotes from Muhammad Ali I wish about having confidence and self-belief like Ali. These quotes show how much he believed in himself. I hope these quotes inspire you to be like Muhammad Ali and to be the greatest of all time.

Thanks for reading.