Talk:Muhammad Ali

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Muhammad Ali page.

Import from Wikipedia[edit]

I recently removed the following list of quotes from the Wikipedia article on Muhammad Ali; I'll leave it to other editors to determine what is appropriate to add or how to add, since I am not that familiar with Wikiquote. 65.185.187.7 21:07, 18 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

  • "The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! [shouts] Rumble, young man, rumble!"
  • "I'm king of the world! I'm pretty! I'm a bad man! I shook up the world!"
  • "I'm so pretty"
  • "Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up."
  • "I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was. "
  • "I'll beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on."
  • "It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am."
  • "Superman don't need no seat belt."
  • "Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life."
  • "No Vietcong ever called me nigger."
  • "I'm so fast that i turned the light switch off in my room and was in bed before it was dark."
  • "I'm so mean I make medicine sick."

Vandalism[edit]

im so fast I can run through a hurricane without getting wet

Someone want in and put 'he has parkinsons' on the quotes article, this page was messed up like one of Ali's (LEGEND) opponents faces after a fight with him lol anyway its fixed how--194.72.105.222 13:13, 19 December 2006 (UTC) This message was Left by McNoddy.(don,t Know why it wouldn't let me sign?) do you need to create a new account if your going to contribute to wikiquote?[reply]

Unsourced[edit]

These should be provided with sources before being moved back into the article.
  • A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he'll never crow. I have seen the light and I'm crowing.
  • Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.
  • All I want now is to be a nice, clean gentleman. I've proved my point. Now I'm going to set an example for all the nice boys and girls. I'm through talking.
  • Be loud, be pretty and keep their black-hatin' asses in their chairs.
  • Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.
  • Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it, and I didn't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name — it means beloved of God — and I insist people use it when speaking to me and of me.
  • Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
  • Don't count the days, make the days count.
  • Eat your words! Eat your words! I am the greatest.
  • Fifteen referees. I want fifteen referees to be at this fight because there ain't no one man who can keep up with the pace I'm gonna set except me. There's not a man alive who can whup me. I'm too fast. I'm too smart. I'm too pretty. I should be a postage stamp. That's the only way I'll ever get licked.
  • Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see, rumble young man, rumble!
  • Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.
  • God gave me this illness to remind me that I'm not number One; He is.

source:http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2672185 under 'classic ali jabs', in full form

  • Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong.
  • He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
  • He will be mine, in round nine, and I ain't lyin'.
    He must fall in eight, to prove that I am great.
    He wanted to go to heaven, so I took him in seven.
    If he'd be in a word of fix, I cut it to six.
    If he keeps talkin' jive, he will fall in five.
    If he makes me sore, I'll get him in round four, like before, with Archie moore, on the floor.
    If that don't do, we'll get him in two.
    If he runs, we can get him in one.
    If he don't wanna fight, he should keep his ugly self at home that night.
  • Hell no, I aint gonna go. On the war in vietnam I sing this song, I aint got no quarrel with them Viet Cong. Clean out my cell, and take my tail to jail without bail, cause better to be in jail fed, than in vietnam dead.
    • Ali on the war in Vietnam, which he refused.
  • Last night I had a dream.
    When I got to Africa I had one helluva rumble.
    I had to beat Tarzan's behind first, for claiming to be the king of the jungle.
    For this fight I wrestled with alligators.
    I tussled with a whale.
    I've done handcuff lightining and put thunder in jail.
    You know I'm bad I had murdered a rock.
    I injured a stone.
    And I hospitalised a brick.
    I'm so bad I make medicine sick.
    I'm so fast man I can run through a hurricane and don't get wet.
    When George Foreman meets me, he'll pay his bets.
    I can drunk a drink of water and kill a dead tree, wait 'till you see Muhammad Ali.
    • On his pre-fight in Zaire to George Foreman.
  • Henry Cooper is nothing to me, if that bum goes over the fifth round I won't return to the United States for 30 days, and that's final.
  • Then he may be great but he will leave in eight.
    If he wanna go to heaven, I'll get'em in seven.
    He'll be worth of a fix, if a I cut him to six.
    If he keeps talking jive he'll go in five.
    If he keeps talking about me I'll get him in three.
    If that don't do he'll fall in two.
    If you run, you'll go in one.
    And if you don't wanna fight, is better keep home that night.
    • Pre-fight with Sonny Liston
  • You tell to your camera, your TV-man, your radio-man and you right there and the whole world. If Sonny Liston whups me I'll kiss his feet in the ring I'll crawl out of the ring on my knees, I'll tell'em he is the greatest and get the first jet to get out of the country.
    • Prediction on is first bout against Sonny Liston
  • Why doesn't he retire? He's too old
    • on Archie Moore
  • If you like to lose your money be a fool and bet on Sonny.
  • I am America. I am the part you won't recognize, but get used to me. Black, confident, cocky — my name, not yours. My religion, not yours. My goals, my own. Get used to me.
  • I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own.
  • I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.
  • I am tired of talking.
  • I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and peace.
  • I don't always know what I'm talking about, but I know I'm right.
  • I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.
  • I hated every minute of training, but I said, "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."
  • I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want.
  • I say it again, and I said it before. Archie Moore will fall in round four.
  • I say get an education. Become an electrician, a mechanic, a doctor, a lawyer — anything but a fighter. In this trade, it's the managers that make the money and last the longest.
  • I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.
  • If Doug Jones upset me, I will retire.
    • Prior to his 1963 match with Doug Jones.
  • If I had lower IQ, I could enjoy your interview.
  • I'll beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.
  • I'm a Muslim. I've been a Muslim for 20 years. . . . You know me. I'm a boxer. I've been called the greatest. People recognize me for being a boxer and a man of truth. I wouldn't be here representing Islam if it were terrorist. . . . I think all people should know the truth, come to recognize the truth. Islam is peace.
  • I'm gonna put him flat on his back,
    so he will start acting black.
    Cause when he was the champion, he didn't do as he should,
    he tries to force himself into an all-white neighbour hood.
  • I'm gonna have to be killed before I lose, and I ain't going to die easy.
  • I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.
  • I'm the best. I just haven't played yet.
    • When asked about his Golf game
  • I'm the most recognized and loved man that ever lived 'cause there weren't no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn't know about them.
  • If my fans think I can do everything I say I can do, then they're crazier than I am.
  • If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.
  • If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize.
  • It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe.
  • It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself.
  • It's not bragging if you can back it up.
    • Actually the statement " It ain't bragging if you can back it" up was first used by Dizzy Dean in 1934 based on the number of games he would win.
  • Joe comes out smokin', and I gonna be jokin'. I be packin' and pokin', pouring water on his smokin'. This might shock and amaze ya, but I will destroy Joe Frazier. Some people say you better watch Joe Frazier, he is always strong I said tell them to try BAN ROLL-ON(That's a deoderant you know)
    • About Joe Frazier before their first fight (March 1971)
  • Life is a gamble. You can get hurt. But people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents. People die everyday. Same with fighters, some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just dont let yourself believe it will happen to you.
  • My face is so pretty, you don't see a scar, which proves I'm the king of the ring by far.
    • Ali about himself.
  • My toughest fight was with my first wife.
  • Old age is just a record of one's whole life.
  • Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.
  • People don't realize what they had till it's gone. Like President Kennedy — nobody like him. Like The Beatles, there will never be anything like them. Like my man, Elvis Presley — I was the Elvis of boxing.
  • People say, I miss my prediction, cause the fight went ten rounds. First I said Jones in four, then I said Jones in six. Six & four is what???.
    • Response to a reporter who asked him about the Jones fight and his prediction.
  • Pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.
  • Prejudice comes from being in the dark; sunlight disinfects it.
  • Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams — they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do — they all contain truths.
  • Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
    • Variant: The service you do for others is the rent you pay for the time you spend on earth.
  • Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer.
  • Sonny's trainer told him at the beginning of the seventh round, he says: "Sonny, son get up the bell is about to ring. Sonny says: My mother didn't raise no fool I'm gonna stay on this stool.
    • About his first defeat of Sonny Liston.
    • Related quote: Liston says: This time am I a bigger fool? I flat on my back, instead of the stool.
      • After knocking Liston out in the first round of their rematch (25 May 1965).
  • Superman don't need no seat belt.
    • Comment to a flight attendant, who replied: "Superman don't need no airplane, either."
  • The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses — behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.
  • The man who has no imagination has no wings.
  • This time Norton will see.
    Im truly the most,
    and all this time he is been cheasin' a ghost.
    There are two things, are hard to hit and see,
    that's a spokie ghost and Muhammad Ali.
  • To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you're not, pretend you are.
  • To be able to give away riches is mandatory if you wish to possess them. This is the only way that you will be truly rich.
  • Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.
  • We have one life; it soon will be past; what we do for God is all that will last.
  • When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.
  • Wisdom is knowing when you can't be wise.
  • You can go to Japan, China, all the European, African, Arabia, and South American countries, and man, they know me. I can't name a nation where they don't know me.
  • When you're as great as I am, it's hard to be humble.
    • Variant: It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am.
  • [About racism] '"If I said here comes Mr. Ching Chong you'd picture china-man; if I said here comes Mr. Khrushchev you look for Russian; if I said here comes Mr. Goldberg, you picture Jew; if I say here comes Mr. Vaiklau you look for Indian; if I say here comes Mr.Castro you look for Cuban; here comes Mr. La Bomba, Mr. Kanyatta, you look for Africa and a black man. Now what's your last name?"'
    • As quote from his one of his speeches
  • "Archie has been living off the fat of the land. I'm here to give him his pension plan. Folks, don't block the gate, don't close the door. For you may all go home, after round four."-Before his scheduled professional boxing match with Archie Moore.

exhibition fight with Alvin ("Blue") Moon[edit]

"Ali throw a left, Ali throws a right. Alvin's goin' up, He's goin' out of sight. Alvin just became The world's first black satellite."

---Tim Dare, Sydney, Australia, October 14, 2010. tsd333@bigpond.com Tel +61 2 9398 8254; mob. 0435 081 658.

article inconsistency[edit]

the article is contridicting itself and repeating itself on many occasions, at one point it states the same quote 3 times and later says its debunked by snopes.

We gotta have a better source for Ali's "thank god my granddaddy got on that boat" quote than Dinesh D'Souza. For one, he's no particular expert on Ali. Further, D'Souza has a history of dishonest reporting.

Please remember to sign your comments with four tildes. There is now a source for the alleged "Grandpappies caught the boat" quote - Dick Sadler (not Ali) in Newsweek, 23 September 1974 - but I'm not sure the citation details given here are quite correct. That issue of Newsweek is available online at the Internet Archive. The article is simply called "It Takes Salongo" (not "A Heap of Salongo") and is on pp. 50-51 of the magazine (not p. 72). Muzilon (talk) 03:39, 23 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Add Superman Quote[edit]

I watched an episode othe 1950s TV show The Adventures of Superman, and found one of the characters mentioned Muhammad Ali. Considering Cassius Clay didn't become known as Muhammad Ali until years after that episode aired, it's not likely a reference to the boxer. Still, I think it's interesting. The fifth season episode is "The Tomb of Zaharan" by David Chantler. It is spoken by the character Abdu Ben Bey (note that the character names were not spelled in the episode, so I'm going by pronunciation). It appears at 12.35 on the DVD I watched. The quote is, "And over there's the mosque of Muhammad Ali." I would add it here just for the weird connection--especially considering the episode was about someone coming from the past to the present, and there was the 1978 comic book of "Superman vs. Muhammad Ali." I'll add the quote if there's no objection. Alden Loveshade (talk) 19:41, 6 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

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