Muhammad Ali’s most inspirational quotes

Muhammed Ali, the boxing legend who told everyone he was the ‘greatest”, has died at the age of 74.

Ali’s death was confirmed by his family in a statement who said the family “would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers and support”.

Here is the boxing legend in his own words:

1. “I’m gonna put that ugly bear on the floor, and after the fight I’m gonna build myself a pretty home and use him as a bear-skin rug,” said on fighting Sonny Liston in 1964
2. “I shook up the world, I’m the king of the world. You must listen to me. I am the greatest! I can’t be beat!”
3. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion,”boxer sais while his traing session.
4. On meeting the Beatles in the Fifth Street gym in Miami, 18 February 1964 Ali sais, “Hello there Beatles! We oughta do some road shows together. We’ll get rich!”
5. “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?” said on refusing to be inducted into the US army to fight in Vietnam In April 1967
6. “I am America. I am the part you won’t recognise. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.”
7. “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.”
8. On fighting George Foreman seconds before the start of the “Rumble in the Jungle”, Zaire, 30 October 1974) Ali sais, “You been hearing about how bad I am since you were a little kid with mess in your pants! Tonight, I’m gonna whip you till you cry like a baby.”
9. “It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.”
10. On fighting Joe Frazier to his corner, during the ‘Thrilla in Manila’, 1 October 1975,“This is the closest I’ve ever been to dying”
11. “The man with no imagination has no wings.”
12. In an interview with David Remnick, quoted in “American Hunger”, The New Yorker, 12 October 1998, “Do good deeds. Visit hospitals. Judgment Day coming. Wake up and it’s Judgment Day.”

-Rumble in the Jungle: the war of words-

The pre-fight quotes and allusions to all-time greatness in its aftermath have become almost as well known a part of the famous 1974 fight with George Foreman as the eight rounds themselves. Here are some of the most memorable utterances from those present:

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee – his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.” – Ali in the pre-fight build-up

“I done something new for this fight. I wrestled with an alligator. I tussled with a whale. I handcuffed lightning, I thrown thunder in jail. Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick. I’m so mean I make medicine sick.” – Ali in the pre-fight build-up

“I won’t kid you. When he went to the ropes, I felt sick. Going into the fight, I thought Muhammad would win, but not that way.” – trainer Angelo Dundee

“Ali, booma ye!” – chant from spectators (meaning “Ali, kill him”).

“That all you got, George? That all you got?” – Ali to Foreman during the fight.

“He (Foreman) went over like a 6ft 60-year-old butler who has just heard tragic news” – Norman Mailer in his book, The Fight.

“This is the most joyous scene … ever seen in the history of boxing.” –commentator David Frost

“Muhammad amazed me, I’ll admit it. He out-thought me, he outfought me. That night, he was just the better man in the ring.” – Foreman

“Now we know what happened which is why he was the greatest. It was beautiful.” – Dundee

Read more: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali dies at 74