Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. (January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016). He is known as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.

After Ali refused to be drafted into the military in 1967, he was found guilty of draft evasion and stripped of his boxing titles. His conviction was overturned in 1971 by the Supreme Court.

Besides boxing, Ali was an actor, author, and released two spoken word albums that received Grammy Award nominations.

Below we list some words of wisdom by Muhammad Ali.

“You don’t lose if you get knocked down; you lose if you stay down.”

“Even the greatest was once a beginner. Don’t be afraid to take that first step.”

“Don’t count the days, make the days count.”

“Success is not achieved by winning all the time. Real success comes when we rise after we fall. Some mountains are higher than others. Some roads steeper than the next. There are hardships and setbacks but you cannot let them stop you. Even on the steepest road you must not turn back.”

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

“True success is reaching our potential without compromising our values.”

“What you are thinking is what you are becoming.”

“I’ll tell you how I’d like to be remembered: As a black man who won the heavyweight title – Who was humorous and who never looked down on those who looked up to him – A man who stood for freedom, justice and equality – And I wouldn’t even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was.”

“Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision.”

“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.”

“We all have the same God, we just serve him differently. Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water. So do religions have different names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different ways forms and times. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew. When you believe in God, you should believe that all people are part of one family. If you love God, you can’t love only some of his children.”

“If you look at the world the same way when you’re 50 that you did when you were 20, then you wasted 30 years.”

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can’t hit what the eyes can’t see.”

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

“Rest but never quit. Even the sun has a sinking spell each evening. But it always rises the next morning. At sunrise, every soul is born again.”

“When you’re right, nobody remembers. When you’re wrong, nobody forgets.”

“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.”

“The more we help others, the more we help ourselves”

“It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.”

“Every day is different, and some days are better than others, but no matter how challenging the day, I get up and live it.”

“You’re not going to enjoy every minute of the journey, but the success you’ll find at the end will make it all worth it.”

“There are billions of people in the world, and every one of them is special. No one else in the world is like you.”

“Champions have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”

“If we continue to think and live as if we belong only to different cultures and different religions, with separate missions and goals, we will always be in self-defeating competition with each other. Once we realize we are all members of humanity, we will want to compete in the spirit of love.”

“Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.”

“Just remember that you don’t have to be what they want you to be.”

“What counts in the ring is what you can do after you’re exhausted. The same is true of life.”

“Most people don’t pray until they’re in trouble. When people need help they pray a lot. But after they get what they want, they slow down. If a man takes five showers a day, his body will be clean. Praying five times a day helps me clean my mind.”

“Outrun the people who quit when they feel discomfort, outrun the people who stop because of despair, outrun the people who are delayed because of prejudice, outrun the people who surrender to failure, and outrun the opponent who loses sight of the goal. Because if you want to win, the will can never retire, the race can never stop, and faith can never weaken.”

“I don’t count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. That is when I start counting, because then it really counts. That’s what makes you a champion.”

“The greater our level of understanding, the harder the tests become.”

“I am grateful for all my victories, but I am especially grateful for my losses, because they only made me work harder.”

“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.”

“God gave me this illness to remind me that I’m not Number One; He is.”

“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”

Copyright © 2025 Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo 

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