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Favorite Quotes, Etc...

Muhammad Ali is considered to be the greatest heavyweight boxer.
Here is a list of some of his best quotes (in no particular order):

  • "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can't hit what his eyes can't see. Now you see me, now you don't. George thinks he will, but I know he won't. 

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

  • "I'm young; I'm handsome; I'm fast. I can't possibly be beat."​​

  • "Don’t count the days; make the days count."​​

  • “If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it—then I can achieve it."​​

  • “It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am."​​

  • “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”​​

  • “If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize.​

  • “Braggin' is when a person says something and can’t do it. I do what I say.”​​

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

  • "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."​​

  • "I'm so mean, I make medicine sick."​​

  • "I should be a postage stamp. That's the only way I'll ever get licked."​​

  • “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.”​​

  • “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”​​

  • "A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”​​

  • “If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.”​​

  • "I shook up the world. Me! Whee!"​​

  • “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'”​​

  • “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.”​​

  • "A man who has no imagination has no wings."​

  • "He’s (Sonny Liston) too ugly to be the world champ. The world champ should be pretty like me!"​​

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

  • “I’ve wrestled with alligators. I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning. And throw thunder in jail.”​​

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

  • “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”    ​​

  • "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."​​

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

  • “I’m not the greatest, I’m the double greatest.”

  • “Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you're going to be right.”

Borrowed from the Quotable file of Captain Chris Mathews:
These insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words.

​​

  1. "He had delusions of adequacy.” Walter Kerr

  2. "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”- Winston Churchill

  3. "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.” - Clarence Darrow

  4. "He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.”-William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

  5. "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?"- Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

  6. "Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it.” - Moses Hadas

  7. "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” - Mark Twain

  8. "He has no enemies but is intensely disliked by his friends.” - Oscar Wilde

  9. "I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one.” -George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

  10. "Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one.” - Winston Churchill, in response

  11. "I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here.” - Stephen Bishop

  12. "He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” - John Bright

  13. "I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial.” - Irvin S. Cobb

  14. "He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others.” - Samuel Johnson

  15. "He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.” - Paul Keating

  16. "He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.” - Forrest Tucker

  17. "Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?” - Mark Twain

  18. "His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.” - Mae West

  19. "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.” - Oscar Wilde

  20. "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination.” - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

  21. "He has Van Gogh's ear for music.” - Billy Wilder

  22. "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But I'm afraid this wasn't it.” - Groucho Marx

  23. The exchange between Winston Churchill & Lady Astor: She said, "If you were my husband I'd give you poison." He said, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."

  24. "He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." - Abraham Lincoln

  25. "There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure." -- Jack E. Leonard

  26. "They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge." -- Thomas Brackett Reed

  27. "He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them." -- James Reston (about Richard Nixon)

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