“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” 

“It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.” 

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” 

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” 

“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.” 

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” 

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” 

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” 

No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.

Poetry teaches the enormous force of a few words, and, in proportion to the inspiration, checks loquacity.

I didn't want to submit to the army and then, on the day of judgment, have God say to me, 'Why did you do that?' This life is a trial, and you realize that what you do is going to be written down for Judgment Day.

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?

Allah's the Arabic term for God. Stand up for God, fight for God, work for God and do the right thing, and go the right way, things will end up in your corner.

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.

I'll beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.

Terrorists are not following Islam. Killing people and blowing up people and dropping bombs in places and all this is not the way to spread the word of Islam. So people realize now that all Muslims are not terrorists.

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 mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.

I used to tease Joe Louis by reminding him that I was the greatest of all time. But Joe Louis was the greatest heavyweight fighter ever.

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.

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

I had to prove you could be a new kind of black man. I had to show the world.

All black Americans have slave names. They have white names; names that the slave master has given to them.

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.