Muhammad Ali was brilliant on so many levels. Besides being arguably the greatest boxer ever to step foot in a ring, his level of intelligence when he wasn’t fighting was amazing. He had real wisdom. He had a good grasp of how the world worked and how people operated. Ali knew what he had to do to get to the top and what the public saw was a side of him but definitely not all of him. He knew what worked for him as a boxer and as a man. Ali stood up for what he believed in and took his hits like a man. And as a fighter, it’s hard to imagine there was ever one smarter. His miraculous defeat of George Foreman was truly won with brains and not brawn. It would take a lifetime to list all of Ali’s memorable quotes but we narrowed it down to a bunch that show how wise he really was.
“A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.”
“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.”
“Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.”
“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.”
“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”.
“Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.”
“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.”
“Friendship… is not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.”
“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”
“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.”
“If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.”
“If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize.”
“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.”
“My way of joking is to tell the truth. That’s the funniest joke in the world.”
“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.”
“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.”
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Don’t count the days; make the days count.”
“It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”
Article By: Jon DaBove
