Who is Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali, original name Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., (born January 17, 1942, Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.—died June 3, 2016, Scottsdale, Arizona), American professional boxer and social activist. Ali was the first fighter to win the world heavyweight championship on three separate occasions; he successfully defended this title 19 times.
Ali was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He began training as an amateur boxer at age 12. At 18, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics and turned professional later that year. He converted to Islam and became a Muslim after 1961; he eventually took the name Muhammad Ali. He won the world heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston in a major upset at age 22 in 1964. In 1966, Ali refused to be drafted into the military, citing his religious beliefs and ethical opposition to the Vietnam War. He was found guilty of draft evasion so he faced 5 years in prison and was stripped of his boxing titles. He stayed out of prison as he appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction in 1971, but he had not fought for nearly four years and lost a period of peak performance as an athlete.
Muhammad Ali quotes
1. Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.
2. 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.
3. If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it – then I can achieve it.
4. I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion’.
5. Don’t count the days, make the days count.
6. Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong
7. 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 the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
8. I’m a fighter. I believe in the eye-for-an-eye business. I’m no cheek turner. I got no respect for a man who won’t hit back. You kill my dog, you better hide your cat.
9. Often it isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you out, it’s the little pebble in your shoe.
10. The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.
11. Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you’re going to be right.
12. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
13. I’ve wrestled with alligators,
I’ve tussled with a whale.
I done handcuffed lightning
And throw thunder in jail.
You know I’m bad.
just last week, I murdered a rock,
Injured a stone, Hospitalized a brick.
I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.
14. To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.
15. The Service you do for others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.
16. The man with no imagination has no wings.
17. What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming.
18. 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? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years
19. 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.
20. The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.
21. He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life
22. Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.
23. Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.
24. You lose nothing when fighting for a cause … In my mind the losers are those who don’t have a cause they care about.
25. If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, then they can sure make something out of you.
26. I am America. I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.
27. It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.
28. I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and peace.
29. It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.
30. It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.
31. Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are
32. Jokes? There are no jokes. The truth is the funniest joke of all.
33. Others may know pleasure, but pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.
34. I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.
35. I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.
36. The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road; long before I dance under those lights.
37. What keeps me going is goals.
38. I don’t count my sit-ups; I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count.
39. It’s not bragging if you can back it up.
40. I’m the greatest, I’m a bad man, and I’m pretty!
41. 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.
42. We can’t be brave without fear
43. Go to College,
Stay in school,
If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread,
they can sure make something out of you.
44. All through my life, I have been tested. My will has been tested, my courage has been tested, my strength has been tested. Now my patience and endurance are being tested.
45. This is the legend of Cassius Clay,
The most beautiful fighter in the world today.
He talks a great deal, and brags indeed-y,
of a muscular punch that’s incredibly speed-y.
The fistic world was dull and weary,
But with a champ like Liston, things had to be dreary.
Then someone with color and someone with dash,
Brought fight fans are runnin’ with Cash.
This brash young boxer is something to see
And the heavyweight championship is his des-tin-y.
This kid fights great; he’s got speed and endurance,
But if you sign to fight him, increase your insurance.
This kid’s got a left; this kid’s got a right,
If he hit you once, you’re asleep for the night.
And as you lie on the floor while the ref counts ten,
You’ll pray that you won’t have to fight me again.
For I am the man this poem’s about,
The next champ of the world, there isn’t a doubt.
This I predict and I know the score,
I’ll be champ of the world in ’64.
When I say three, they’ll go in the third,
10 months ago
So don’t bet against me, I’m a man of my word.
He is the greatest! Yes!
I am the man this poem’s about,
I’ll be champ of the world, there isn’t a doubt.
Here I predict Mr. Liston’s dismemberment,
I’ll hit him so hard; he’ll wonder where October and November went.
When I say two, there’s never a third,
Standin against me is completely absurd.
When Cassius says a mouse can outrun a horse,
Don’t ask how; put your money where your mouse is!
I AM THE GREATEST!
46. Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.
47. I am the greatest.
48. Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams — they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do — they all contain truths
49. I Ain’t Got No Quarrel With The VietCong…No VietCong Ever Called Me Nigger.
50. I try not to speak about all the charities and people I help, because I believe we can only be truly generous when we expect nothing in return.
51. Allah is the Greatest. I’m just the greatest boxer
52. Superman don’t need no seat belt.
53. Truly great people in history never wanted to be great for themselves. All they wanted was the chance to do good for others and be close to God.
54. The greatest victory in life is to rise above the material things that we once valued most.
55. 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.
56. Wisdom is knowing when you can’t be wise.
57. My wealth is in my knowledge of self, love, and spirituality.
58. I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.
59. I’ll beat him so bad he’ll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.
60. If you even dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologize.
