Muhammad Ali: Quotes about the world

Muhammad Ali was African American boxer, philanthropist and activist. Explore interesting quotes on world.
Muhammad Ali: 200 quotes115 likes

“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.”

Muhammad Ali

“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.”

Muhammad Ali

Written by copywriter Aimee Lehto for a series of Adidas ads in which this was superimposed over stills of various figures, including Muhammad Ali. Documented by Quote Investigator https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/11/28/impossible-is/. <br class="br">Misattributed

“This is the legend of Cassius Clay,
The most beautiful fighter in the world today.”

Muhammad Ali

&quot;I am the Greatest&quot; (1964) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZU_AvPPIQY <br class="br">Context: This is the legend of Cassius Clay,<br>The most beautiful fighter in the world today.<br>He talks a great deal, and brags indeed-y,<br>Of a muscular punch that&#x27;s incredibly speed-y.<br>The fistic world was dull and weary,<br>But with a champ like Liston, things had to be dreary.<br>Then someone with color and someone with dash,<br>Brought fight fans a-runnin&#x27; with cash.<br>This brash young boxer is something to see<br>And the heavyweight championship is his destiny.

“For every struggle that Joe survived,
For every dispute he endured, to rise,
Joe will go down in history
as a model for champions to come. While Frazier was a man of few words, Ali was a world of mouth, but he found his place in history. Now his heart can express him well. Joe Frazier was a silent warrior, whom Ali silently admired. One could not rise without the other.”

Muhammad Ali book The Soul of a Butterfly

"The Silent Warrior", p. 114
The Soul of a Butterfly (2004)

“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”

Muhammad Ali

Interview in Playboy magazine (November 1975)

“Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if just 10 percent of the people who believe in the power of love would compete with one another to see who could do the most good for the most people?”

Muhammad Ali book The Soul of a Butterfly

Source: The Soul of a Butterfly (2004), p. xxiii
Context: Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if just 10 percent of the people who believe in the power of love would compete with one another to see who could do the most good for the most people? So many of us enjoy taking part in competitions, why not hold a competition of love instead of one that leads to jealousy and envy? 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.

“My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.”

Muhammad Ali

This is actually from Ali's autobiography "The Greatest". However, this was said by Don King to George Foreman.
Misattributed

“I am a Muslim and there is nothing Islamic about killing innocent people in Paris, San Bernardino, or anywhere else in the world… True Muslims know that the ruthless violence of so called Islamic Jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion… We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda… They have alienated many from learning about Islam. True Muslims know or should know that it goes against our religion to try and force Islam on anybody.”

Muhammad Ali

&quot;Presidential Candidates Proposing to Ban Muslim Immigration to the United States&quot; http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/muhammad-ali-hits-trump-misguided-murderers-sabotaging-islam-n477351 (9 December 2015).