On my twelfth birthday, I got a new bicycle as a present from my folks, and I rode it to a fair that was being held at the Columbia Gymnasium, and when I come out, my bike was gone. I was so mad I was crying, and a policeman, Joe Martin, come up and I told him I was going to whip whoever took my bike. He said I ought to take some boxing lessons to learn how to whip the thief better, and I did. That's when I started fighting.
Muhammad AliEmmett Till and I were about the same age. A week after he was murdered... I stood on a corner with a gang of boys, looking at pictures of him in the black newspapers and magazines. In one, he was laughing and happy. In the other, his head was swollen and bashed in, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, and his mouth twisted and broken... I couldn't get Emmett Till out of my mind, until one evening I thought of a way to get back at white people for his death.
Muhammad AliThere comes a time in every person's life when he has to choose the course his life will take.
Muhammad AliI believe in Allah and in peace. I don't try to move into white neighborhoods... I donโt want to marry a white woman. I was baptized when I was 12, but I didnโt know what I was doing. Iโm not a Christian anymore. I know where Iโm going and I know the truth and I donโt have to be what you want me to be. Iโm free to be what I want.
Muhammad Ali