The boy wishes to learn to skate, to coast, to catch a fish in the brook, to hit a mark with a snowball or a stone; and a boy a little older is just as well pleased to teach him these sciences.

The search after the great men is the dream of youth, and the most serious occupation of manhood.

Books are the best of things, well used; abused, the worst. What is the right use? What is the end which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire.

Colleges… can only highly serve us, when they aim not to drill, but to create; when they gather from far every ray of various genius to their hospitable halls, and, by the concentrated fires, set the hearts of their youth on flame.

There is properly no history; only biography.

Children are all foreigners.

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

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

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

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

Life is so, so short. Bible says it's like a vapor.

I would say things like 'I am the greatest! I'm pretty! If you talk jive, you'll drop in five! I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! I'm pretty!' When white people heard me talking like this, some said, 'That black man talks too much. He's bragging.'

I wanted to use my fame and this face that everyone knows so well to help uplift and inspire people around the world.

Sonny Liston is nothing. The man can't talk. The man can't fight. The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. And since he's gonna fight me, he needs falling lessons.

Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer.

The Nation of Islam's main focus was teaching black pride and self-awareness. Why should we keep trying to force ourselves into white restaurants and schools when white people didn't want us? Why not clean up our own neighborhoods and schools instead of trying to move out of them and into white people's neighborhoods?

I'm just hoping that people understand that Islam is peace and not violence.

Joe Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head.

I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own.

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

Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong.

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

It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.

I don't have to be what you want me to be.

My only fault is that I don't realize how great I really am.

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

I said I was 'The Greatest,' I never said I was the smartest!

Cassius Clay is a name that white people gave to my slave master. Now that I am free, that I don't belong anymore to anyone, that I'm not a slave anymore, I gave back their white name, and I chose a beautiful African one.

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

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.

I'm the most recognized and loved man that ever lived cuz there weren't no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn't know about them.

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

My trainer don't tell me nothing between rounds. I don't allow him to. I fight the fight. All I want to know is did I win the round. It's too late for advice.

God tries you in certain, certain ways. Some people are rich, and they believe in God. They lose the money, things get hard, they get weak and quit going to church. Quit serving God like they did.

To make America the greatest is my goal, so I beat the Russian and I beat the Pole. And for the U.S.A. won the medal of gold. The Greeks said, 'You're better than the Cassius of old.'

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.

My lectures, based on Islamic teachings, were on various subjects. Some of the titles were, 'The Intoxication of Life,' 'The Purpose of Life,' 'The Real Cause of Man's Distress,' 'The Journey to the Goal in Life,' and, one of my favorites, 'The Heart of Man.' They contained important insights that spoke to something deep inside me.

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.

I'm the greatest thing that ever lived! I'm the king of the world! I'm a bad man. I'm the prettiest thing that ever lived.

Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life.

Old age is just a record of one's whole life.

I'm more at home with my log cabins than I am in my house in Cherry Hill.

Ali's got a left, Ali's got a right - when he knocks you down, you'll sleep for the night; and when you lie on the floor and the ref counts to ten, hope and pray that you never meet me again.

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

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.

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

America is the greatest country in the world.

Joe Frazier got hit more than me - and he doesn't have Parkinson's.

My toughest fight was with my first wife.

You think the world was shocked when Nixon resigned? Wait till I whup George Foreman's behind.