Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person

“You might see nothing in him. I see everything in him.” 

“we always misunderstood ourselves, and rarely understood others” 

Make yourself necessary to the world, and mankind will give you bread, and if not store of it, yet such as shall not take away your property in all men’s possessions, in all men’s affections, in art, in nature, and in hope.

“I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life.” 

“Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words?” 

“Everything in moderation, including moderation.” 

“Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.” 

Finish each day before you begin the next, and interpose a solid wall of sleep between the two. This you cannot do without temperance.

A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life: he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days.

“We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.” 

“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” 

“I can resist anything except temptation.” 

“A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” 

“A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.” 

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

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.

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.

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

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

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?

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

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.

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