I can show you how to box. I can teach you every technique and trick I know, but I can never make you a fighter. That comes from inside, and it's something no one else can ever give you.

There is no such thing as a natural boxer. A natural dancer has to practice hard. A natural painter has to paint all the time. Even a natural fool has to work at it.

The one-time cotton picker was now the heavyweight champion of the world.

You have to be tough and stick it out, or you wind up being nothing.

I don't even like money. It just quiets my nerves.

The whole damned country was depending on me.

A champion doesn't become a champion in the ring, he's merely recognized in the ring. His “becoming” happens during his daily routine.