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muhammad ali Quotes

Muhammad Ali Quotes

Birth Date: 1876-12-25 (Monday, December 25th, 1876)
Date of Death: 1948-09-11 (Saturday, September 11th, 1948)

 

muhammad ali life timeline

Battle of Karbala: Shia Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was decapitated by forces under Caliph Yazid I. This is commemorated by Shi a Muslims as Aashurah.Sunday, October 10th, 0680
Leaders of the Mameluke dynasty are killed by Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali.Friday, March 1st, 1811
The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.Monday, July 4th, 1887
Founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah is sworn in as first Governor General of Pakistan at Karachi.Friday, August 15th, 1947
In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later takes the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.Saturday, October 29th, 1960
Prophet Elijah Muhammad officially gives Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali meaning "beloved of Allah".Friday, March 6th, 1964
After refusing induction into the United States Army the day before (citing religious reasons), Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.Saturday, April 29th, 1967
Joe Frazier becomes the undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion by winning a unanimous 15-round decision over Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in New York City.Monday, March 8th, 1971
The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire.Wednesday, October 30th, 1974
Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.Wednesday, October 1st, 1975
A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.Monday, January 13th, 1986

Quotes

    • Clay swings with his left, Clay swings with his right, Look at young Cassius carry the fight. Liston keeps backing, but there's not enough room, It's a matter of time till Clay lowers the boom. Liston is still rising, now Clay lands with a right, What a beautiful swing, and the punch raises the Bear clean out of the ring. Liston is still rising and the ref wears a frown, For he can't start counting till Sonny goes down. Now Liston is disappearing from view, The crowd is going frantic, But radar stations have picked him up, Somewhere over the Atlantic. Who would have thought when they came to the fight? That they'd witness the launching of a human satellite. Yes the crowd did not dream, when they put up the money, That they would see a total eclipse of the Sonny.
    • While I'm talking to you I'm thinking up the greatest short poem of all time. This poem tells how it feels to be great as I am: Me - wheee!
    • This is the legend of Cassius Clay, The most beautiful fighter in the world today. He talks a great deal, and brags indeed-y, Of a muscular punch that's incredibly speed-y. The fistic world was dull and weary, but with a champ like Liston, things had to be dreary. Then someone with color and someone with dash, brought fight fans are runnin' with Cash. This brash young boxer is something to see and the heavyweight championship is his destiny. This kid's got a left, this kid's got a right, if he hit you once, you're asleep for the night.
    • I knew I had him in the first round. Almighty God was with me. I want everyone to bear witness, I am the greatest! I'm the greatest thing that ever lived. I don't have a mark on my face, and I upset Sonny Liston, and I just turned twenty-two years old. I must be the greatest. I showed the world. I talk to God everyday. I shook up the world, I'm the king of the world. You must listen to me. I am the greatest! I can't be beat!
    • I think Terrell will catch hell at the sound of the bell. He's going around saying that he's a championship-fighter, but when he meets me he fall 20 pound lighter. He thinks that he's the reall heavy weight champ but when he meets me, he'll just be a tramp Now I'm not sayin' just to be funny, but I'm fightin' Ernie because he needs the money.
    • Ain't no reason for me to kill nobody in the ring, unless they deserve it.
    • 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.
    • Last night I had a dream, When I got to Africa, I had one hell of a rumble. I had to beat Tarzan's behind first, For claiming to be King of the Jungle. For this fight, I've wrestled with alligators, I've tustled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning And put thunder in jail. You know I'm bad. I have murdered a rock, I've injured a stone, and hospitalized a brick. I'm so bad, I make medicine sick. I'm so fast, man, I can run through a hurricane and don't get wet. When George Foreman meets me, He'll pay his debt. I can drown the drink of water, and kill a dead tree. Wait till you see Muhammad Ali.
    • If you were surprised when Nixon resigned, just watch what happens when I whup Foreman's behind!
    • You been hearing about how bad I am since you were a little kid with mess in your pants! Tonight, I'm gonna whip you till you cry like a baby.
    • That's the only way you gonna save this sucker. He's doomed.
    • Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.
    • Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and 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? No I'm not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. 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.
    • If Ali says a mosquito can pull a plow, don't ask how. Hitch him up.
    • Religions all have different names, but they all contain the same truths. ... I think the people of our religion should be tolerant and understand people believe different things.
    • What's really hurting me, the name Islam is involved, and Muslim is involved and causing trouble and starting hate and violence. ... Islam is not a killer religion. ... Islam means peace, I couldn't just sit home and watch people label Muslims as the reason for this problem.
    • I'm retiring because there are more pleasant things to do than beat up people.
    • Joe Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head.
    • Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wildlife.
    • It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.
    • I'm not the greatest; I'm the double greatest. Not only do I knock 'em out, I pick the round
    • Allah is the Greatest. I'm just the greatest boxer.
    • I'd like for them to say he took a few cups of love, he took one tablespoon of patience, one tablespoon, teaspoon of generosity, one pint of kindness. He took one quart of laughter, one pinch of concern, and then, he mix willlingness with happiness, he added lots of faith, and he stired it up well, then he spreads it over his span of a lifetime, and he served it to each and every deserving person he met.
    • Over the years my religion has changed and my spirituality has evolved. Religion and spirituality are very different, but people often confuse the two. Some things cannot be taught, but they can be awakened in the heart. Spirituality is recognizing the divine light that is within us all. It doesn't belong to any particular religion; it belongs to everyone.
    • We all have the same God, we just serve him differently. Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water. So do religions have different names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different ways forms and times. It doesn't matter whether you're a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew. When you believe in God, you should believe that all people are part of one family. If you love God, you can't love only some of his children.
    • My soul has grown over the years, and some of my views have changed. As long as I am alive, I will continue to try to understand more because the work of the heart is never done. 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. Every step of the way I believe that God has been with me. And, more than ever, I know that he is with me now. I have learned to live my life one step, one breath, and one moment at a time, but it was a long road. I set out on a journey of love, seeking truth, peace and understanding. l am still learning.
    • Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if just 10 percent of the people who believe in the power of love would compete with one another to see who could do the most good for the most people?
    • 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.
    • In a competition of love we'll all share in the victory, no matter who comes first.
    • To make America the greatest is my goal, So I beat the Russians, and I beat the Pole, and for the USA won the medal of gold. Italians said: 'You're Greater than the Cassius of old??. We like your name, we like your game, So make Rome your home if you will. I said I appreciate your kind hospitality, But the USA is my country still, 'Cause they're waiting to welcome me in Louisville.
    • Since I won't let the critics seal my fate, they keep hollering I'm full of hate. But they don't really hurt me none, 'cause I'm doing good and having fun.
    • There live a great man named Joe who was belittled by a loudmouth foe. While his rival would taunt and tease Joe silently bore the stings. And then fought like gladiator in the ring.
    • For every struggle that Joe survived, For every dispute he endured, to rise, Joe will go down in history as a model for champions to come. While Frazier was a man of few words, Ali was a world of mouth, but he found his place in history. Now his heart can express him well. Joe Frazier was a silent warrior, whom Ali silently admired. One could not rise without the other.
    • A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he'll never crow. I have seen the light and I'm crowing.
    • Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.
    • 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.
    • Be loud, be pretty and keep their black-hatin' asses in their chairs.
    • Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.
    • Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it, and I didn't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name - it means beloved of God - and I insist people use it when speaking to me and of me.
    • 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.
    • Don't count the days, make the days count.
    • Eat your words! Eat your words! I am the greatest.
    • Fifteen referees. I want fifteen referees to be at this fight because there ain't no one man who can keep up with the pace I'm gonna set except me. There's not a man alive who can whup me. I'm too fast. I'm too smart. I'm too pretty. I should be a postage stamp. That's the only way I'll ever get licked.
    • Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see, rumble young man, rumble!
    • Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.
    • God gave me this illness to remind me that I'm not number One; He is.
    • Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong.
    • He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
    • He will be mine, in round nine, and I ain't lyin'. He must fall in eight, to prove that I am great. He wanted to go to heaven, so I took him in seven. If he'd be in a word of fix, I cut it to six. If he keeps talkin' jive, he will fall in five. If he makes me sore, I'll get him in round four, like before, with Archie moore, on the floor. If that don't do, we'll get him in two. If he runs, we can get him in one. If he don't wanna fight, he should keep his ugly self at home that night.
    • Hell no, I aint gonna go. On the war in vietnam I sing this song, I aint got no quarrel with them Viet Cong. Clean out my cell, and take my tail to jail without bail, cause better to be in jail fed, than in vietnam dead.
    • 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.
    • I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own.
    • I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.
    • I am tired of talking.
    • I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and peace.
    • I don't always know what I'm talking about, but I know I'm right.
    • I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.
    • I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'
    • 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.
    • I say it again, and I said it before. Archie Moore will fall in round four.
    • 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.
    • I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.
    • If Doug Jones upset me, I will retire.
    • If I had lower IQ, I could enjoy your interview.
    • I'll beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.
    • 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.
    • I'm gonna put him flat on his back, so he will start acting black. Cause when he was the champion, he didn't do as he should, he tries to force himself into an all-white neighbour hood.
    • I'm gonna have to be killed before I lose, and I ain't going to die easy.
    • I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.
    • I'm the best. I just haven't played yet.
    • I'm the most recognized and loved man that ever lived 'cause there weren't no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn't know about them.
    • If my fans think I can do everything I say I can do, then they're crazier than I am.
    • If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.
    • If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize.
    • It's gonna be a a killa, a chilla, and a thrilla when I get that gorilla in Manila.
    • It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe.
    • It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself.
    • It's not bragging if you can back it up.
    • Joe comes out smokin', and I gonna be jokin'. I be packin' and pokin', pouring water on his smokin'. This might shock and amaze ya, but I will destroy Joe Frazier. Some people say you better watch Joe Frazier, he is always strong I said tell them to drive then roll on.
    • Life is a gamble. You can get hurt. But people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents. People die everyday. Same with fighters, some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just dont let yourself believe it will happen to you.
    • My face is so pretty, you don't see a scar, which proves I'm the king of the ring by far.
    • My toughest fight was with my first wife.
    • Old age is just a record of one's whole life.
    • Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.
    • 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.
    • People say, I miss my prediction, cause the fight went ten rounds. First I said Jones in four, then I said Jones in six. Six & four is what???.
    • Pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.
    • Prejudice comes from being in the dark; sunlight disinfects it.
    • Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths.
    • Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
    • Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer.
    • Sonny's trainer told him at the beginning of the seventh round, he says: 'Sonny, son get up the bell is about to ring. Sonny says: My mother didn't raise no fool I'm gonna stay on this stool.
    • Superman don't need no seat belt.
    • 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.
    • The man who has no imagination has no wings.
    • The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.
    • This time Norton will see. Im truly the most, and all this time he is been cheasin' a ghost. There are two things, are hard to hit and see, that's a spokie ghost and Muhammad Ali.
    • To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you're not, pretend you are.
    • To be able to give away riches is mandatory if you wish to possess them. This is the only way that you will be truly rich.
    • Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.
    • We have one life; it soon will be past; what we do for God is all that will last.
    • When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.
    • Wisdom is knowing when you can't be wise.
    • You can go to Japan, China, all the European, African, Arabia, and South American countries, and man, they know me. I can't name a nation where they don't know me.
    • When you're as great as I am, it's hard to be humble.
    • How do you feel about Hitler sharing yours?
    • My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.
    • No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger. (Sometimes quoted as 'No Viet Cong ever called me a nigger.')
    • If my mind can conceive it; and my heart can believe it - then I can achieve it.
    • I hit him so hard that I made him cry. He looked at me and said, 'I'm going to get you for that.' I respected him then, and I respect him now.
    • Clay is a good enough fighter, but it's unfortunate that he's a Black Muslim. A champion should represent all sects, not one.
    • I'd like to borrow his body for just 48 hours. There are three guys I'd like to beat up, and four women I'd like to make love to.
    • Clay is so young and has been misled by the wrong people... He might as well have joined the Ku Klux Klan.
    • Under the influence of Elijah Mohammad - who preached that blacks should refuse to integrate with 'white devils' - Ali made a point of dating only black women and lashed out at men and women who engaged in interracial sex. In an interview with Playboy, he declared: 'A black man should be killed if he's messing with a white woman.' When the interviewer asked about black women crossing the colour barrier, Ali responded: 'Then she dies. Kill her, too.' It's unlikely that a white athlete who made such remarks would receive the praise that Michael Mann heaps on Ali. He says that the fighter 'personified racial pride and self-knowledge'. The Playboy journalist, who interviewed the boxer, was closer to the mark when he observed of his subject: 'You're beginning to sound like a carbon copy of a white racist.' ... The transformation of Ali from a great fighter to a celebrated man of conscience and social purpose has succeeded so well because the actual history of his career has been altered to reflect the kinder, gentler man of today. Unpleasant remarks or facts from the past have been swept away or excused. ... A more historically accurate appraisal of Ali would conclude that he was far from heroic outside the ring and was pitifully misused by his masters in the Nation of Islam. For his purposes, Elijah hijacked the impressionable young man's career and filled his head with racist nonsense. By the time he finally broke free of the old Nation of Islam, in the 1970s, his career was in its last stages. He continued to fight long past his prime, in part to recover the money and time he had lost in his misadventures with the Black Muslims.
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