"I'm the most recognized and loved man that ever lived cuz there weren't no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn't know about them."
Muhammad Ali
"All I want now is to be a nice, clean gentleman. I've proved my point. Now I'm going to set an example for all the nice boys and girls. I'm through talking."
Muhammad Ali meeting with reporters on the morning after the Sonny Liston fight
"LaLaLand gossips say Joe Frazier ain't happy with his characterization in movie Ali. Sez he should have been consulted since he has a memory and Ali doesn't."
Blackie Sherrod, The Dallas Morning News, 1/27/02
"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
"I'm a Muslim. I've been a Muslim for 20 years. . . . You know me. I'm a boxer. I've been called the greatest. People recognize me for being a boxer and a man of truth. I wouldn't be here representing Islam if it were terrorist. . . . I think all people should know the truth, come to recognize the truth. Islam is peace."
Muhammad Ali speaking on September 21, 2001 at a fundraiser for victims of the WTC and Pentagon attacks
"Ain't no reason for me to kill nobody in the ring."
Muhammad Ali's comment after the fight with Jimmy Ellis in July 1971 stopped by the referee in the twelfth round.
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses?behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
Muhammad Ali
People don't realize what they had till it's gone. Like President Kennedy - nobody like him. Like The Beatles, there will never be anything like them. Like my man, Elvis Presley - I was the Elvis of boxing.''
Muhammad Ali
Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."
Muhammad Ali
"I am America. I am the part you won't recognize, but get used to me. Black, confident, cocky -- my name, not yours. My religion, not yours. My goals, my own. Get used to me."
Muhammad Ali
"Eat your words! Eat your words! I am the greatest."
Muhammad Ali shouting at reporters who had dismissed him as a loudmouth and a fake before his fight with Sonny Liston.
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