I don't smoke but I keep a match box in my pocket, when my heart slips towards sin, I burn the matchstick and heat my palm with it, then say to myself, "Ali you can't even bear this heat, how would you bear the unbearable heat of hellfire?"

Sonny Liston is nothing. The man can't talk. The man can't fight. The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. And since he's gonna fight me, he needs falling lessons.

You lose nothing when fighting for a cause ... In my mind the losers are those who don't have a cause they care about.

Since I won't let the critics seal my fate, they keep hollering I'm full of hate. But they don't really hurt me none, 'cause I'm doing good and having fun.

Black men - one might be the president. Well, America's in too much trouble - I don't want that job now.

I try not to speak about all the charities and people I help, because I believe we can only be truly generous when we expect nothing in return.

If the white man ain't the devil, he's been aiming at the history of the Americans.