How dare these boxers challenge me with their primitive skills? It makes me angry.

I'm doing what great artists before me did, like Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Eddie Cantor. I'm doing what they were doing, not at their level yet, but one day I will be. I'm just happy to be in their company.

I probably have a 20,000-word vocabulary. I'll match my wits with anyone on literature, science and the arts.

I know how hard it is to be a woman, especially a black woman.

You're sweet. I'm going to make sure you kiss me good with those big lips. I'm gonna make you my girlfriend.

What was most important was the knowledge [aspect] of the fight. I learned this early on and just told myself to "upgrade my mind." That's just what I wanted to do my whole life.

Hannibal rode elephants into cartilage