10 greatest quotes of Mohammad Ali

You could either have loved him for his outlandish skills inside the ring and the lightning speed he threw punches at his opponents, or you could have loathed him for boasting about himself and his opinion all his life, but you could never ever ignore a personality like Mohammad Ali.

Arguably the best boxer of his generation, Ali’s personality transcended miles outside the ring where he ruled. If being outspoken and sharp-tongued is a boxer’s forte, then Ali has always topped the chart.

He was an entertaining character and seemed to have known even before he was born that he would be a champion all through his life. Such was his fate that Ali acquired Parkinson’s disease, which slowed him down on talking, the thing he liked the best. As he passed away on Friday at the age of 74, let us look at some of his quotes that are popular universally.

1. “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. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
– One of such quotes that would send a shiver down your spine. This quote has been used several times after it was first spoken.

2. “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”
– Ali was not just some loud-mouthed guy bragging about himself. – Ali became the world heavyweight champion at the tender age of 22 when he defeated Sonny Liston on Feb. 25, 1964. His record was 31-0 through 1970. Enough said.

3. “When I’m gone, boxing will be nothing again. The fans with the cigars and the hats turned down’ll be there, but no more housewives and little men in the street and foreign presidents. It’s goin’ to be back to the fighter who comes to town, smells a flower, visits a hospital, blows a horn and says he’s in shape. Old hat. I was the onliest boxer in history people asked questions like a senator.”
-A 1967 quote reproduced in Hunter S Thompson’s 1978 Rolling Stone feature.

4. “I am America. I am the part you won’t recognise. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky, my name not yours. My religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.”
– These lines were said after the US government had asked him to serve during Vietnam war but he draft dodged the offer.

5. “People say I talk so slow today. That’s no surprise. I calculated I’ve taken 29,000 punches. But I earned $57million and I saved half of it. So I took a few hard knocks. Do you know how many black men are killed every year by guns and knives without a penny to their names? I may talk slow, but my mind is OK.”
– After the Parkinson’s disease had taken a toll on him making his health worse.

6. “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
– He backed this thinking too. Born Cassius Clay in 1942, Ali took many risks during his life. He converted to Islam and changed his name. He fought the toughest fighters of his generation.


7. “If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.”
– Sounds insane, isn’t it? But as it is said; an insane tries to adjust the world around himself, while a sane man tries to adjust himself according to the world. Therefore, the onus of the progress of the world has always been on the insane man.

8. “Float like a butterfly sting like a bee – his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.”
– Every street corners of the world are acquainted with these words. This saying stuck with him. Members of his team wore the words on their shirts. The quote is about Ali’s movement in the boxing ring, which he took immense pride in. (The Rumble in the Jungle- 1974).

9. “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.”
– Another one of his inspiring quotes people should live by.

10. “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”
– Ali’s true impact cannot be compared in terms of athletics because he was more than just an athlete.
He was 29-0 before his suspension from boxing and had some of the most memorable fights in sports history following his return. From the Fight of the Century to the Rumble in the Jungle to the Thrilla in Manila, Ali was embraced worldwide as the people’s champion.