When thinking of motivating sayings, our minds can think of many people that have produced incredible wisdom. Some are more lightweight, while others carry meanings so deep that they are on a whole other level. We believe Muhammad Ali’s quotes fall into the latter category. With his extraordinary feats both inside and outside the ring, Ali floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee when it mattered.
Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and an activist who became the personification of sportsmanship, athleticism, and being the best that a person can be. Muhammad’s boxing career started as an accident. He was just a twelve-year-old kid fuming over his stolen bike when a police officer and boxing coach, John E. Martin, saw the kid. John told Ali that if he wanted to ‘whup’ the thieves, he’d better learn how to box. And once he did come for boxing lessons, he soon became a record-breaking sportsman.
One might wonder how you could apply the sayings of a boxer to ordinary life. In the heavyweight champion’s case, he had to go through many personal hardships to reach the top level. Which might make the quotes by Muhammad Ali hit home harder than ever.
There are a lot of famous and inspiring quotes from Muhammad Ali, some of them getting attention even outside of the sporting world. This just goes to show how powerful the fighter was—both physically and mentally.
So step into the ring and read through these motivating Muhammad Ali quotes. No matter what you’re going through, Ali’s words will instill in you the power to overcome any obstacle. Vote for your favorites and share the motivation with your friends and family!
#1
“If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it — then I can achieve it.”
#2
“Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”
#3
“I don’t trust anyone who’s nice to me, but rude to a waiter because they would treat me the same if I were in that position.”
#4
“If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.”
#5
“A man who has no imagination has no wings.”
#6
“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.”
#7
“Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.”
#8
“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”
#9
“I would like to be remembered as a man who won the heavyweight title three times. Who was humorous and who treated everyone right. As a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him, and who helped as many people as he could. As a man who stood up for his beliefs no matter what. As a man who tried to unite all humankind through faith and love. And if all that’s too much, then I guess I’d settle for being remembered only as a great boxer who became a leader and a champion of his people. And I wouldn’t even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was.”
#10
“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If not, pretend you are.”
#11
“Don’t count the days; make the days count.”
#12
“My principles are more important than the money or my title.”
#13
“Wisdom is knowing when you can’t be wise.”
#14
“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”
#15
“I shook up the world. Me! Whee!”
#16
“I’m young; I’m handsome; I’m fast. I can’t possibly be beaten.”
#17
“I love children. I can never pass them by without saying something to them. They make you want to start life all over again.”
#18
“I don’t have to be what you want me to be.”
#19
“My way of joking is, to tell the truth. That’s the funniest joke in the world.”
#20
“The critics only made me work harder.”
#21
“It’s funny, but those who hate me the most sometimes inspire me the most.”
#22
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.”
#23
“Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee. You can’t hit what your eyes don’t see.”
#24
“When you want to talk about who made me, you talk to me. Who made me, is me.”
#25
“Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.”
#26
“My only fault is that I don’t realize how great I really am.”
#27
“When it comes to love, compassion, and other feelings of the heart, I am rich.”
#28
“We can’t be brave without fear.”
#29
“What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming.”
#30
“I’m not the greatest, I’m the double greatest.”
#31
“Live every day as if it were your last because someday you’re going to be right.”
#32
“It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.”
#33
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”
#34
“There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people.”
#35
“Friendship is a priceless gift that cannot be bought nor sold, but its value is far greater than a mountain made of gold.”
#36
“It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.”
#37
“I should be a postage stamp. That’s the only way I’ll ever get licked.”
#38
“I loved the smell of horse and hay and the sight of their beautiful bodies. Somehow it inspired me to train harder so my body could be in condition like that.”
#39
“Too many easy victories can ruin a fighter just as much as a long line of defeats.”
#40
“At home, I am a nice guy: but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.”
#41
“No one starts out on top. You have to work your way up.”
#42
“I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.”
#43
“I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.”
#44
“I don’t count my sit-ups; I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count.”
#45
“If you even dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologize.”
#46
“Jokes? There are no jokes. The truth is the funniest joke of all.”
#47
“I know I can learn to hit without getting hit.”
#48
“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.”
#49
“What keeps me going is goals.”
#50
“My wealth is in my knowledge of self, love, and spirituality.”
#51
“Champions aren’t made in gyms.”
#52
“I’ve never let anyone talk me into not believing in myself.”
#53
“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.”
#54
“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.”
#55
“I do everything to make the fight come out my way, but if I’m defeated I have to get up and come back again, no matter how humiliating the loss.”
#56
“I got speed and endurance. You’d better increase your insurance.”
#57
“If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.”
#58
“I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.”
#59
“You don’t have to be in a boxing ring to be a great fighter. As long as you are true to yourself, you will succeed in your fight for that in which you believe.”
#60
“You lose nothing when fighting for a cause.”
#61
“I calculate that I took 20,000 punches, but I earned millions and kept a lot of it. I may talk slow, but my mind is OK.”
#62
“I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I’m in a world of my own.”
#63
“No one knows what to say in the loser’s locker room.”
#64
“Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”
#65
“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”
#66
“I’ve wrestled with alligators. I’ve tussled with a whale. I did handcuffed lightning. And throw thunder in jail.”
#67
“Not only do I knock ’em out, but I also pick them round.”
#68
“We spend more time learning how to make a living than we do learning how to make a life.”
#69
“Think well of all, be patient with all, and try to find the good in all.”
#70
“I believe in the eye-for-an-eye business. I’m no cheek turner.”
#71
“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 taking 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.”
#72
“Life is so, so short. Bible says it’s like a vapor.”
#73
“It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.”
#74
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
#75
“The greatest victory in life is to rise above the material things that we once valued most.”
#76
“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.”
#77
“When I won the Golden Gloves in 1960, that made me realize I had a chance. And when I won at the Olympics, that sealed it: I was the champ.”
#78
“It’s in my blood to be around people while I was training.”
#79
“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.”
#80
“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.”
#81
“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.”
#82
“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.”
#83
“You are as old as you think you are.”
#84
“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.”
#85
“I know no fighter can survive the loss if he feels sorry for himself when he’s defeated.”
#86
“When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.”
#87
“I had always come home like the victorious hunter bringing back big game from the jungle.”
#88
“I had always been the one who picked up all the stragglers and stray followers.”
#89
“I figure I’ll be champ for about ten years and then I’ll let my brother take over — like the Kennedys down in Washington.”
#90
“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.”
#91
“Give up what appears to be doubtful for what is certain. Truth brings peace of mind, and deception doubt.”
#92
“You lose nothing when fighting for a cause… In my mind, the losers are those who don’t have a cause they care about.”
#93
“There is a science to making your opponent wear down.”
#94
“I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.”
#95
“Life is a gamble.”
#96
“I learn to put my head within hitting range, force my opponent to throw blows, then learn back and away.”
#97
“It takes a lot out of a fighter to throw punches that land in thin air.”
#98
“He’s (Sonny Liston) too ugly to be the world champ. The world champ should be pretty like me!”
#99
“How tall are you? So I can know in advance how far to step back when you fall down!”
#100
“I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and peace.”
#101
“There are no pleasures in a fight, but some of my fights have been a pleasure to win.”
#102
“Put yourself out on a limb, like me!”
#103
“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.”
#104
“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.”
#105
“I have never heard anything that affected me like those words: ‘Heavyweight Champion of the World.’”
#106
“It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”
#107
“Now you see me, now you don’t.”
#108
“Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.”
#109
“I said I was ‘The Greatest,’ I never said I was ‘The Smartest!’”
#110
“I may have been the best fighter, but I was also the poorest. I had never been able to afford a first-class mouthpiece to protect my teeth. I had to wait until other fighters finished so I could borrow their headgear, or their trunk or bandages.”
#111
“If you lose a big fight, it will worry you all of your life. It will plague you — until you get your revenge.”
#112
“His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.”
#113
“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.”
#114
“My toughest fight was with my first wife.”
#115
“Age is whatever you think it is.”
#116
“Each time I thought I had achieved my ‘life’s purpose,’ I discovered it was only another step in my journey.”
#117
“When you win so long, so much, you forget — you think your name will win. You forget the sacrifices, the work that goes into winning.”
#118
“When a fighter is beaten, everybody who believes in him is beaten too — his family, his friends, his children, the people who cheer him on, who give him their love, their hope, their pride.”
#119
“Superman don’t need no seat belt.”
#120
“Put yourself out on a limb, sucka, like me!”
#121
“It takes pride and tiger’s drive to build up the confidence, the ego the power to defeat an opponent in the ring.”
#122
“I don’t get hit. I’m the fastest thing on two feet, man!”
#123
“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.”
#124
“Old age is just a record of one’s whole life.”
#125
“My style, my stamina, my system were molded down in the basement of a church in East End.”
#126
“Others may know pleasure, but pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.”
#127
“Recognize how every moment of our journey is an important part of the growth of our soul.”
#128
“The thing that matters is how you lose. I’m not crying. My friends should not cry.”
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