Muhammad Ali

You think I'm crazy, I'm just a little bit out of my mind. But I'm the best.

I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and I believe in peace.

I'm a lover and a fighter.

I'm so pretty.

I'm the king of the world! I'm the king of the world!

I'm going to retire and become a spiritual leader.

I'm not afraid of nobody. I'm not afraid of nothing.

I'm beautiful. I'm black. I'm strong.

Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it and I don't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name – it means 'beloved of God,' and I insist that people use it when they speak to me and of me.

I got nothing against them Viet Cong. No Viet Cong ever called me nigger.

Why should I go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?

My conscience won't let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn't put no dogs on me, they didn't rob me of my nationality, raped and killed my mother and father. ... How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.

Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.

I'm a Muslim. I believe in Allah and peace. I don't try to murder people. I don't believe in wars. I'm against war. I'm for peace.

Black people have got to be given their freedom, their independence. We've got to be given land. We've got to be given our own schools, our own colleges, our own universities, our own industries, our own factories, our own everything. We've got to be given our own country.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer.

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

My toughest fight was with my first wife.

I told him, 'I'm not going to fight you, you ugly bear.'