Champion Muhammad Ali Quotes

“It’s not bragging if you can back it up.” – Muhammad Ali

“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.” – Muhammad Ali

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” – Muhammad Ali

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If not pretend you are.” – Muhammad Ali

“What you are thinking is what you are becoming. 

– Muhammad Ali

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

“Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you’re going to be right.” – Muhammad Ali

“Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.” – Muhammad Ali

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

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

 – Muhammad Ali

It’s hard to be humble, when you’re as great as I am. 

– Muhammad Ali

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

It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. 

– Muhammad Ali

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

My toughest fight was with my first wife. – Muhammad Ali

My way of joking is to tell the truth. That’s the funniest joke in the world.  – Muhammad Ali

No one knows what to say in the loser’s locker room. 

– Muhammad Ali

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

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.

 – Muhammad Ali

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

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.

– Muhammad Ali

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

“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

“I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.” – Muhammad Ali  

“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

“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

“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

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

– Muhammad Ali

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

– Muhammad Ali

“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

“I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was. I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.”

– 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

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

– Muhammad Ali

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

– Muhammad Ali

“If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it—then I can achieve it.” – Muhammad Ali

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