Muhammad Ali throws a right at Joe Frazier in the 13th round in their title bout in Manila, Philippines in 1975. Photo / AP
Muhammad Ali throws a right at Joe Frazier in the 13th round in their title bout in Manila, Philippines in 1975. Photo / AP
Muhammad Ali's talent wasn't confined to the ring. He also possessed one of the deepest minds and sharpest tongues in sporting history.
Here's a collection of the American legend's most memorable, funny, witty, profound and inspiring one-liners, following his death at the age of 74 today.
ON HIMSELF
"I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was. I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest."
"I'm young; I'm handsome; I'm fast. I can't possibly be beat."
"It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am."
"I'm the most recognised and loved man that ever lived"
"If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologise."
"I've wrestled with alligators. I've tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning and throw thunder in jail. You know I'm bad. Just last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick. I'm so mean, I make medicine sick."
"Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head."
"I always bring out the best in men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I'll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I'm gonna tell ya, that's one helluva man, and God bless him."
"I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing. And the shadow won."
"Now you see me, now you don't. George thinks he will, but I know he won't!"
"That all you got George?" - Ali to Foreman during the Rumble in the Jungle.
Muhammad Ali is held back by referee Joe Walcott after he knocked out challenger Sonny Liston in the first round of their title fight in Lewiston, Maine in 1965. Photo / AP
"He's (Sonny Liston) too ugly to be the world champ. The world champ should be pretty like me!"
"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."
ON LIFE
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."
"The service you do for others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth."
"Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don't let yourself believe it will happen to you."
"The man who has no imagination has no wings."
"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."
