84 Famous Muhammad Ali Quotes That Are Inspirational

In this post we’ll read Muhammad Ali quotes who was a legendary professional boxer who competed from 1960 to 1981.

Muhammad Ali rose to prominence as an amateur boxer, winning the gold medal in the light heavyweight division in 1960 and he turned professional shortly after the Olympics and became the world heavyweight champion at the age of 22 in 1964.

He was known for his unorthodox defensive maneuvers, including his famous “Ali shuffle,” and his strategic use of psychological warfare to intimidate opponents. He was famous for his ability to “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” in the ring.

Let’s read the best Muhammed Ali quotes about life, fighting, boxing and more.

Table of Contents

Muhammad Ali Quotes

1. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’”

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

3. “The fact is, I was never too bright in school. I ain’t ashamed of it, though. I mean, how much do school principals make a month?”

4. “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.”

5. “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.”

6. “I’ve been everywhere in the world, seen everything, had everything a man can have.

7. “I’m no leader; I’m a little humble follower.”

Famous Muhammad Ali Quotes

1. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”

2. “There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people.”

3. “My way of joking is to tell the truth. That’s the funniest joke in the world.”

4. “I don’t count my sit-ups; I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count.”

5. “I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.”

6. “We spend more time learning how to make a living than we do learning to make a life.”

7. “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.”

Inspirational Muhammad Ali Quotes

1. “If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.”

2. “The man who has no imagination has no wings.”

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

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

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

6. “What keeps me going is goals.”

7. “My principles are more important than the money or my title.”

8. “A universe of doubt could never erase the faith his heart has embraced.”

9. “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.”

10. “We can’t be brave without fear.”

11. “What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming.”

12. “Others may know pleasure, but pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.”

Muhammad Ali Quotes on Boxing

1. “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.”

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

3. “No boxer in the history of boxing has had Parkinson’s. There’s no injury in my brain that suggests that the illness came from boxing.”

4. “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 Quotes on Fighting

1. “You lose nothing when fighting for a cause. In my mind the losers are those who don’t have a cause they care about.”

2. “Too many easy victories can ruin a fighter just as much as a long line of defeats.”

3. “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.”

4. “My toughest fight was with my first wife.”

5. “I always bring out the best in men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I’ll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I’m gonna tell ya, that’s one helluva man, and God bless him.”

6. “You can’t keep your mind on fighting when you’re thinking about a woman. You can’t keep your concentration. You feel like sleeping all the time.”

7. “I’m a fighter. I believe in the eye-for-an-eye business. I’m no cheek turner. I got no respect for a man who won’t hit back. You kill my dog, you better hide your cat.”

Muhammad Ali Quotes on Life

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

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

3. “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.”

4. “Life is so, so short. Bible says it’s like a vapor.”

5. “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.”

6. “Each time I thought I had achieved my life’s purpose, I discovered it was only another step in my journey.”

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

Muhammad Ali Quotes on ‘I am the greatest’

1. “I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”

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

3. “My only fault is that I don’t realize how great I really am.”

4. “I’m not the greatest, I’m the double greatest.”

5. “I said I was ‘The Greatest,’ I never said I was ‘The Smartest!’”

6. “I could see it. I could almost feel it. When I proclaimed that I was the greatest of all time, “I believed in myself, and I still do.”

7. “Anywhere I go, there is always an incredible crowd that follows me. In Rome, as I land at the airport, even the men kiss me. I love Rome.”

Muhammad Ali Quotes on Service to Others

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

2. “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.”

3. “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.”

Muhammad Ali Quotes on Love

1. “In a competition of love we would not be running against one another, but with one another.”

2. “My wealth is in my knowledge of self, love, and spirituality.”

3. “When it comes to love, compassion, and other feelings of the heart, I am rich.”

4. “I love children. I can never pass them by without saying something to them. They make you want to start life all over again.”

Muhammad Ali Quotes on Hard work

1. “Don’t count the days; make the days count.”

2. “No one starts out on top. You have to work your way up. Some mountains are higher than others, some roads steeper than the next. There are hardships and setbacks, but you can’t let them stop you. Even on the steepest road, you must not turn back. You must keep going up. In order to reach the top of the mountain, you have to climb every rock.”

3. “Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.”

4. “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”

5. “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.”

Muhammad Ali Quotes on Religion

1. “Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams – they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do – they all contain truths.”

2. “The word ‘Islam’ means ‘peace.’ The word ‘Muslim’ means ‘one who surrenders to God.’ But the press makes us seem like haters.”

3. “The day I met Islam, I found a power within myself that no man could destroy or take away from me.”

Muhammad Ali Quotes on Friendship

1. “Friendship is not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.”

2. “I don’t trust anyone who’s nice to me but rude to the waiter. Because they would treat me the same way if I were in that position.”

3. “How you make others feel about themselves says a lot about you.”

Funny Muhammad Ali Quotes

1. “If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize.”

2. “I should be a postage stamp, because that’s the only way I’ll ever get licked. I’m beautiful. I’m fast. I’m so mean I make medicine sick. I can’t possibly be beat.”

3. “When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.”

4. “I’ll beat him so bad he’ll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.”

5. “I’ve seen George Foreman shadow boxing, and the shadow won.”

6. “It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.”

7. “Never put your money against Cassius Clay, for you will never have a lucky day.”

8. “I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.”

9. “Superman don’t need no seat belt.”

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

11. “He’s (Sonny Liston) too ugly to be the world champ. The world champ should be pretty like me!”

12. “I got speed and endurance. You’d better increase your insurance.”

13. “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”

14. “If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.”

These Muhammed Ali quotes reflect his wisdom, wit and his burning passion for his profession.

He retired from boxing in 1981 with a professional record of 56 wins and 5 losses.

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