You don't want no pie in the sky when you die, You want something here on the ground while you're still around.

I can love freedom and the flesh and blood of my people moreso than I do the money.

Get up sucker and fight. Get up and fight

We're not trying to take power away or rule anybody - we're just trying to get up from under the rulers.

I only read the Holy Koran, the Bible and the sports pages

I came back to Louisville after the Olympics with my shiny gold medal. Went into a luncheonette where black folks couldn't eat. Thought I'd put them on the spot. I sat down and asked for a meal. The Olympic champion wearing his gold medal. They said, "We don't serve niggers here." I said, "That's okay, I don't eat 'em." But they put me out in the street. So I went down to the river, the Ohio River, and threw my gold medal in it.

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