He was known as the greatest boxer that ever walked the face of Gods green earth and now Muhammad Ali has died on Friday aged 74. The legend died after he was hospitalized June 2 with respiratory issues that were complicated by his Parkinson's disease.
Muhammad Ali's talent wasn't confined to the ring, he was a lot more than just his quick skills, fancy footwork and boxing prowess which was second to none by the way . He also possessed one of the deepest minds and sharpest tongues in sporting history which is what I remember him for. Here are some of his hilarious quotes he made throughout his life.
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"Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong."
“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home to drop bombs and bullets on brown people while so-called negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs” – after he refused to be conscripted for the Vietnam war.
“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.”
“It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.'
"The service you do for others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth."
"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."
"The man who has no imagination has no wings."
“I am so fast that last night I turned off the light switch and was in bed before the room was dark.'
"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."
"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life"
"Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you're going to be right."
'Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee, your hands can't hit, what your eyes can't see.' - Prior to his fight against Foreman in 1974.
'If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it – then I can achieve it.'
'I'm not the greatest; I'm the double greatest. Not only do I knock 'em out, I pick the round.'
'It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am.'
'To make America the greatest is my goal, so I beat the Russian and I beat the Pole. And for the USA won the medal of gold. The Greeks said you're better than the Cassius of old.' - He said this quote after he won the Olympic light-heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Games in Rome.
'It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.'
'A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted thirty years of his life.'
'I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale, handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I'm so mean I make medicine sick.' - Ali said this before the historic Rumble in the Jungle match that took place in 1974 in Zaire against George Foreman.
'Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beating 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, and I insist people using it when speaking to me and of me.'
'It will be a killer and a chiller and a thriller when I get the gorilla in Manila.' - Ali said this before the historic and legendary 'Thrilla in Manila' match against Joe Frazier in 1975.
'I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'
'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.'
'There are no pleasures in a fight, but some of my fights have been a pleasure to win.'
'I am the greatest, I'm the greatest that ever lived. I don't have a mark on my face.' - Ali said this after he beat competitor Sonny Liston in 1964.
'Don't count the days; make the days count.'
'It's not bragging if you can back it up.'
'Champions aren't made in the 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.' - Ali said this prior to a fight against George Foreman in 1974.
'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.'
'If you even dream of beating me, you better wake up and apologize.'
'My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.'
'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.' - Ali said this in 1970 when he was convicted of draft evasion.
'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.'
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The world has truly lost a champion of life. Ali we will miss not only your footwork and lightning jabs, but also your philosophical mind. RIP champ!!!!
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