I would say things like ‚I am the greatest! I’m pretty! If you talk jive, you’ll drop in five! I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! I’m pretty!‘ When white people heard me talking like this, some said, ‚That black man talks too much. He’s bragging.‘

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 don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one.

Nothing external to you has any power over you.

I have always thought I was the best ever player.

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

Ali’s got a left, Ali’s got a right – when he knocks you down, you’ll sleep for the night; and when you lie on the floor and the ref counts to ten, hope and pray that you never meet me again.

We cannot live being obsessed with what other people think about us. It’s impossible to live like that. Not even God managed to please the entire world.

If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.

I am who I am. That’s why my friends and peers respect and appreciate me. I don’t change or cater my actions to fit my surroundings. I’m myself 24/7. People appreciate that.

If you’re a person struggling to eat and stay healthy, you might have heard about Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali, but you’ll never have heard of Bill Gates.

Muhammad Ali is a legend, a hero of mine.

I thought one should have the attitude of ‚What do you care what other people think!‘

My philosophy is it’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am, and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.

I think it’s OK to be confident in yourself.

I trust my taste. I trust it completely and I always have done, and I’ve always thought it isn’t that different from everybody else’s.

You have to feel confident. If you don’t, then you’re going to be hesitant and defensive, and there’ll be a lot of things working against you.

Power is like being a lady… if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.

Sometimes, people can be extraordinarily judgmental and closed-minded to anyone different or special, which is why it’s so hard for young people in this day and age to be comfortable enough in their own skin to not listen to the people picking on them.

You are victors, not victims!

I don’t focus on the critics. Everyone who is making any difference in any field has critics. As long as I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, then I don’t worry about it.

Honestly, I could care less about other people’s opinions about me.

Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.

Even as a child, Muhammad Ali got perverse pleasure out of being different. He liked the attention it got him, but most of all he just liked being himself: odd and independent.

You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.

He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

I’m very secure about my talents and about who I am.

The fact is that since you’re a divine creation who originated in the world of Spirit, you have exactly the right amount of smarts to accomplish all that you need and want to do while you’re here on earth. It’s all perfect… and so are you!

You have to just accept your body. You may not love it all the way, but you just have to be comfortable with it, comfortable with knowing that that’s your body.

I will not be concerned at other men’s not knowing me; I will be concerned at my own want of ability.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

A church is a place in which gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there.

You don’t have to be somebody different to be important. You’re important in your own right.

If you are against yourself, you will never reach your highest potential. And when you criticize yourself, you’re criticizing God.

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.

No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.

I want to appeal to everyone. Because I’m not saying I’m the best, but we the best.

I want the world to see my body.

I used to bodyguard for Muhammad Ali, Leon Spinks, Sugar Ray Leonard. I used to bodyguard a lot of diamond merchants; I would travel with a suitcase full of diamonds and take them from point A to point B. My reputation grew because I was a professional. I did my job, and I was courteous – a no-nonsense guy.

I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win.

Don’t ever forget two things I’m going to tell you. One, don’t believe everything that’s written about you. Two, don’t pick up too many checks.

I still think I am the greatest.

I am not afraid of saying something and going and pursuing it. That’s it. I see it in my mind. I say it out loud. I go and do it.

You make yourself broad. You make yourself appealing. ‚Hey, y’all, I’m cool with everybody.‘ That’s my message.

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

I think people take me as seriously as I want them to. They take me as seriously as I take myself – let’s put it that way.

True politeness consists in being easy one’s self, and in making every one about one as easy as one can.

I’m comfortable in my own skin, no matter how far it’s stretched. Ha ha.

I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me.

If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I’m not frightened by anyone’s perception of me.

‚They‘ are the people that don’t believe in you, that say that you won’t succeed. We stay away from ‚They.‘

It was really hard for them to intimidate me. They felt I was intimidating. One of the growers had a name for me: I think it was ‚dragon lady‘ or something like it.

Wine makes a man more pleased with himself; I do not say it makes him more pleasing to others.

You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.

Pretension is a poor joke that you play on yourself. Snap out of it. Recognise your strengths, work on your weaknesses. Real achievement is liking what you see in the mirror every morning.

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!

I’m odd looking. Sometimes I think I look like a funny muppet.

Living in America and, of course, just being women in general, we’ve got more strength than we think we do.

I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word.

Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.

It takes more than just a good looking body. You’ve got to have the heart and soul to go with it.