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I Came Back To Louisville After The Olympics With My Shiny Gold Medal. Went Into A Luncheonette Where Black Folks Couldn't Eat. Thought I'd Put Them On The Spot. I Sat Down And Asked For A Meal. The Olympic Champion Wearing His Gold Medal. They Said, "we Don't Serve Niggers Here." I Said, "that's Okay, I Don't Eat 'em." But They Put Me Out In The Street. So I Went Down To The River, The Ohio River, And Threw My Gold Medal In It.

-Muhammad Ali

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Muhammad Ali

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I Came Back To Louisville After The Olympics With My Shiny Gold Medal. Went Into A Luncheonette Where Black Folks Couldn't Eat. Thought I'd Put Them On The Spot. I Sat Down And Asked For A Meal. The Olympic Champion Wearing His Gold Medal. They Said, "we Don't Serve Niggers Here." I Said, "that's Okay, I Don't Eat 'em." But They Put Me Out In The Street. So I Went Down To The River, The Ohio River, And Threw My Gold Medal In It.

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War On Nations Changes Maps. War On Poverty Maps Change.

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Everything The Black People Are Doing Comes From The Honorable Elijah Mohammed. They Are Black Now, They Don't Want To Be Called Negroes. This Come From The Honorable Elijah Mohammed.

Miss America Was Always White. All The Beautiful Brown Women In America, Beautiful Sun Tans, Beautiful Shapes, All Types Of Complexions, But She Always Was White.and Miss World Was Always White, And Miss Universe Was Always White.and The Angel Fruit Cake Was The White Cake And The Devil Food Cake Was The Chocolate Cake.i Said, 'momma, Why Is Everything White?' I Always Wondered. And The President Lived In The White House.

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To Be A Great Champion You Must Believe You Are The Best. If You’re Not, Pretend You Are.

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It's Not Bragging If You Can Back It Up.

I Want To Be The First Black Man On The Moon

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Whoever Knocks Persistently, Ends By Entering.

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I Am The Astronaut Of Boxing. Joe Louis And Dempsey Were Just Jet Pilots. I'm In A World Of My Own.

I Don't See No Black And White Couples In England Or America Walking Around Proud Holding Their Children And Going Out.

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Malcolm X Got Famous Mainly By Being Hard On White People, White Devils, Blue-eyed Blond-headed Dogs.

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This Relationship Will Help Guarantee That, For Generations To Come, People Of All Nations Will Understand My Beliefs And My Purpose

Guarantees That

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Religions Have Different Names, And They All Contain Truth, Expressed In Different Ways Forms And Times

We're Not Trying To Take Power Away Or Rule Anybody - We're Just Trying To Get Up From Under The Rulers.

That Computer Was Made In Alabama

If The Boxers Are A Little More Colorful, Talk A Little Like I Did And Just Do Half As Much As I Did For Boxing, It Will Be All Right.

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I'll Destroy You. I Am The Master Of Disaster.

We Black People, As A Whole, Are At War We'll Say With The White Power Structure. Not Physically, But We Have Definite Protests To Win The Battle.

While Frazier Was A Man Of Few Words / Ali Was A World Of Mouth / But He Found His Place In History / Now His Heart Can Express Him Well / Joe Frazier Was A Silent Warrior / Whom Ali Silently Admired / One Could Not Rise Without The Other

I Figured That If I Said It Enough, I Would Convince The World That I Really Was The Greatest.

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"i'm The Greatest Thing That Ever Lived! I'm The King Of The World! I'm A Bad Man. I'm The Prettiest Thing That Ever Lived. I Shook Up The World! I Want Justice..."

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Frazier Is So Ugly That He Should Donate His Face To The Us Bureau Of Wild Life.

Elijah Muhammad Teaches Us The Truth Of God Beautified The Planet By Separating Everybody In Different Countries For Themselves: Chinese In China, English In England, Puerto Ricans In Puerto Rico, Ethiopians In Ethiopia, Arabians In Arabia, Egyptians In Egypt, And Americans Took That Country And Stole It Away So There's Always Going To Be Trouble And Chaos.

Friendship Is Not Something You Can Learn In College Or Some Learning Institution, No One Knows How To Become Friends You Just Become But If You Haven't Learned The Meaning Of Friendship You Haven't Learned Anything

I Don't Count My Situps. I Only Start Counting Once It Starts Hurting.

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.

I Need To Be Famous So I Can Talk About Religion. I Can Talk About God. It's An Expensive Price That I Have To Pay To Be The Most Famous Man On Earth And I Do It With Pleasure Only For God. My Fight Is Only And Introduction To The Real Fight, The One For God. Fighting By Itself Doesn't Interest Me Anymore. I Want To Help People, The Black People And I Need Any Kind Of Media To Spread My Thought: God, Charity, Peace.

I've Got It! I've Got It! It'll Make Front-page Headlines Around The World. You Can Have Me Kidnapped, And Then A Couple Of Days Before The Fight I'll Show Up Again

Emmett 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.

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.

Don't Count The Days, Make The Days Count.

I Live. I Travel. I Eat. I Pray. These Are The Things I Do. I'd Rather Be In My Condition Than Be A Man With Four Children In A Four-bedroom House, Working Hard Every Day To Pay For His House, Taking His Children To School.

The Only Limitations One Has, Are The Ones They Place On Themselves

The Man Who Has No Imagination Has No Wings.

The Teachings Of Elijah Muhammad On How Black People Have Been Brainwashed.how They've Been Taught To Love White And Hate Black, How We've Been Robbed Of Our Names In Slavery.we Were Robbed Of Our Culture, We Were Robbed Of Our True History. So It Left Us A Walking Dead Man.

Even Today, If My Title Hadn't Been Given Back To Me And I Was In Such Poverty Where I Had To Go And Find A Job, I Would Have Done That.

Be Obedient To Your Superior, And Your Inferior Will Obey You.

I Ain't Got No Quarrel With Them Viet Cong.

They Say Actually Every Time I Enter The Ring, In A Way, I`m Going To The War. They Say To Me Daily, You Are A Prized Fighter, What`s The Difference? And I Like To Say To Those Critics Of The Press And The Others That There Is One Hell Of A Lot Of Difference In Fighting In A Ring And Going To War In Vietnam.

How Many Push Ups Do You Do? I Don't Know. I Only Starts Counting When It Starts Hurting

I'd Like To Live To A Hundred.

Get Up And Say Elijah Muhammad Is Wrong When He Says White Are The Devil? They Have To Prove They Are Not The Devil.

Elijah Muhammad

Elvis Presley Was The Sweetest, Most Humble And Nicest Man You'd Want To Know.

How Could They Say That My Religion, Islam Was A 'race Hate' Religion After All The Plunder And Enslavement And Domination Of My People By White Christians In The Name Of White Supremacy?

The One Thing I Don't Understand Is War.

Wouldn't It Be A Beautiful World If Just 10 Percent Of The People Who Believe In The Power Of Love Would Compete With One Another To See Who Could Do The Most Good For The Most People?

I Came Back To Louisville After The Olympics With My Shiny Gold Medal. Went Into A Luncheonette Where Black Folks Couldn't Eat. Thought I'd Put Them On The Spot. I Sat Down And Asked For A Meal. The Olympic Champion Wearing His Gold Medal. They Said, "we Don't Serve Niggers Here." I Said, "that's Okay, I Don't Eat 'em." But They Put Me Out In The Street. So I Went Down To The River, The Ohio River, And Threw My Gold Medal In It.

So Now I'm Going To Forget The 400 Years Of Lynching And Killing Raping And Depriving My People Feeding Of Justice And Equality And The Lowest Of Low Last Respect And I'm Going To Look At Two Or Three White People Who Are Trying To Do Right And Don't See The Other Million Who Are Trying To Kill Me? I'm Not That Big Of A Fool.

I Have Learned To Live My Life One Step, One Breath, And One Moment At A Time, But It Was A Long Road. I Set Out On A Journey Of Love, Seeking Truth, Peace And Understanding. I Am Still Learning.

Cherish Every Moment

I Have More Fans And More Followers And More Supporters. Because The People Who Actually Saw The Joe Frazier Muhammad Ali Fight, They Saw Me Win At Least Nine Rounds - The People Who Know Boxing.

Everything I Got Comes From Elijah Mohammed. He Taught Me Who I Was, He Made Me Proud, He Made Me Fearless, He Made Me Love My Own, I’ve Turned Down Millions To Keep From Selling Out My People, The Beautiful Name Mohammed Ali. And White People Cannot Destroy Me Like They Have Other Big Ministers Of His In The Past By Telling Us Oh, You Speak Good, You Should Be The Leader.white People Make Me Thinkin' That I'm Smart, And As Soon As I Leave Elijah You Can Get Me. But As Long As I Stay With The Honorable Elijah Mohammed I'm Safe.

I Believe In The Holy Koran. It Says We Declare Ourselves To Be Righteous Muslims And Do Not Take Part In Wars, Or In No Way Fashion Or Form Take The Lives Of Humans Unless It's A Holy War Declared By God Himself.

I'd Like To Say That Muslims Are Never In Violence With White People. It's The Black Man Who Love You. See, You Don't Let Him In Your Toilet, You Don't Let Him In Your Restroom, You Don't Let Him Marry Your Daughter, You Gotta Fight. So, We're Not Gonna Be Botherin' You, You Understand. Muslims Don't Come In, We Don't Have No Trouble With You. It's Just The Integrator.

As Soon As I Heard The Truth That Elijah Muhammad Teaches Us In America, It Made Me Accept It.

We Have One Life / It Soon Will Be Past / What We Do For God / Is All That Will Last.

I Need To Get Everything Straight. I'm Not Involved In A Power Struggle Between Black And White.

Black And White

The One Without Dreams Is The One Without Wings.

I Was The First One In The Gym, And The Last One To Leave.

When I Was 9, I Saw A Wrestler On Television Named Gorgeous George. He Said, "i'm Beautiful. I'm So Pretty That If A Sucker Touches My Face, I'll Kill Him. If He Messes With My Hair, I'll Pummel Him." I Said To Myself, "that's A Good Idea. I Am The Greatest, I'm Pretty." And Then I Took It A Little Further Than He Did.

That All You Got, George?

We Must Not Only Control The Weapons That Can Kill Us, We Must Bridge The Great Disparities Of Wealth And Opportunity Among The Peoples Of The World, The Vast Majority Of Whom Live In Poverty Without Hope, Opportunity Or Choices In Life. These Conditions Are A Breeding Ground For Division That Can Cause A Desperate People To Resort To Nuclear Weapons As A Last Resort. Our Only Hope Lies In The Power Of Our Love, Generosity, Tolerance And Understanding And Our Commitment To Making The World A Better Place.

I Got It Made The Rest Of My Life, Financially And In Every Other Way. There's Nobody In The World Like Me. I'm Getting Out Just In Time. If I Was Twenty Seven, I Could Still Kick Ass. I Don't Have To Beat Holmes. Why? I Raised Him, He Worked Three Years As A Sparring Partner For Me.

Sparring Partner

I Did Not Disregard My Culture, If I Did, It Was The White American Culture, And I Accepted My True Culture, When I Accepted Mohammed Ali, Because This Is A Black Name, Islam Is The Black Man's Religion, And So I Would Like To Say, That I Would Like To Clarify That Point That I Reclaimed My Real Culture, And That's Being A Black Man And Wearing A Black Name With A Black Body, And Not A White Name, So I Would Never Say That I Didn't Disown My Culture.

Put Yourself Out On A Limb, Sucka, Like Me!

Things Are Getting Much Better, But I Always Wondered When I Went To Church On Sundays. I've Always Been One To... I'm Not Just A Boxer.

Church On Sunday

I Believe In Allah And In Peace. I Don't Try To Move Into White Neighborhoods... I Don’t Want To Marry A White Woman. I Was Baptized When I Was 12, But I Didn’t Know What I Was Doing. I’m Not A Christian Anymore. 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.

Inside Of A Ring Or Out, Ain't Nothing Wrong With Going Down. It's Staying Down That's Wrong.

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 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.

All Black Americans Have Slave Names. They Have White Names; Names That The Slave Master Has Given To Them.

Ain't No Reason For Me To Kill Nobody In The Ring, Unless They Deserve It.

Being Ali's Doctor Is Somewhat Like Being Gynacologist To The Queen Of England. One Does Not Have To Do Much To Receive Good Press.

When A Chivalrous Man Makes An Oath, He Is Faithful To It, And When He Attains Power, He Spares His Enemy.

I'll Tell You How I'd Like To Be Remembered: As A Black Man Who Won The Heavyweight Title - Who Has Humorous And Who Never Looked Down On Those Who Looked Up To Him - A Man Who Stood For Freedom, Justice And Equality - And I Wouldn't Even Mind If Folks Forgot How Pretty I Was.

Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee. The Hands Can't Hit What The Eyes Can't See.

My Trainer Don't Tell Me Nothing Between Rounds. I Don't Allow Him To. I Fight The Fight. All I Want To Know Is Did I Win The Round. It's Too Late For Advice.

That Man Was Beautiful. Timing, Speed, Reflexes, Rhythm, His Body, Everything Was Beautiful. And To Me, Still, I Would Say Pound For Pound... I'd Say I'm The Greatest Heavyweight Of All Time, But Pound For Pound, I Still Say Sugar Ray Robinson Was The Greatest Of All Time.

Frazier's Got Two Chances. Slim, And None. And Slim Just Left Town

Brooding Over Blunders Is The Biggest Blunder.

Boxing's A Rough Sport. After Every Fight I Rush To The Mirror To Make Sure I'm Presentable.

In Ali Change Creation Faith Growth Hope Humor Life Living Muhammad Ali Transformation Wonder If They Can Make Penicillin Out Of Moldy Bread, They Can Sure Make Something Out Of You.

All Through My Life, I Have Been Tested. My Will Has Been Tested, My Courage Has Been Tested, My Strength Has Been Tested. Now My Patience And Endurance Are Being Tested.

Martin Luther King Was Bumped Off Unjustly, Adam Clayton Powell Was Bumped Off Unjustly, They Took My Title Unjustly, They Killed Megers Ever Unjustly, All The Integrators Who Love White Folks, Was Unjustly Kicked Out Of Washington, They've Been Deprived Of Education And Poverty Throughout The Country.

That's Okay, I'm Still The Greatest.

I Never Push In Front My Muscles, Only My Religion, So I'm Protected.

People Will Know You’re Serious When You Produce.

For The Black Man To Come Out Superior Would Be Against America's Teachings. I Have Been So Great In Boxing They Had To Create An Image Like Rocky, A White Image On The Screen, To Counteract My Image In The Ring. America Has To Have Its White Images, No Matter Where It Gets Them. Jesus, Wonder Woman, Tarzan And Rocky.

I'll Leave You With One That I Have Hanging On My Office Wall, Compliments Of Nike: Impossible Is Nothing.

I'm Sure No Intelligent White Person, In His Or Her Right White Mind, Want Black Men And Women Marrying Their White Sons And Daughters And In Return Introducing Their Grandchildren To Half Brown, Kinky Haired Black People.

If We Were Second Class Citizens We'd Be Driving Old Cadillacs And Living Good. If We Were First Class We'd Be Driving A Rolls Royce.

Allah Is The Greatest. I'm Just The Greatest Boxer.

I Won The Olympic Gold Medal In Rome, Italy. Olympic Champion. The Russian Standing Right Here, And The Pole Right Here.

The Word Had Spread And People Were Piling Around Us. But Then Very Suddenly, Sonny Liston Froze Me With That Look Of His. He Said Real Quiet, 'let's Go On Over Here.' And He Led The Way To A Table And The People Hung Back. I Ain't Going To Lie. This Was The Only Time Since I Have Known Sonny Liston That He Really Scared Me.

I Want Fifteen Referees At This Fight…because There Ain’t No One Man Who Can Keep Up With The Pace I’m Gonna Set Except Me

The Fact Is I Never Was Too Bright In School. I Just Barely Graduated. I Had A D- Average. I Ain't Ashamed Of It, Though. I Mean, How Much Do Principals Make A Month?

They Can Boo Me, Yell At Me, And Throw Peanuts At Me, As Long As They Pay To Get In.

You Could Be The World's Best Garbage Man, The World's Best Model; It Don't Matter What You Do If You're The Best.

I Am Grateful For All My Victories, But I Am Especially Grateful For My Losses, Because They Only Made Me Work Harder.

I Love Boxing And It Did A Lot For Me. But Sometimes It Made Me Think How Savage Human Beings Could Be To Each Other. That Wasn't The Kind Of Boxer I Wanted To Be. My Strategy Was To Be As Scientific As I Could When I Fought. I Didn't Want To Be Seriously Hurt, And I Didn't Want To Do That To Anybody Else Either.

We Followed The Honorable Elijah Mohammed, Who Is The Boss. And We Don't Waste A Lot Of Time Arguin' About A Dead Black Man, Malcolm X, When The Whites Are Our Common Enemies.

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.

When You Come To The Fight Don't Block The Halls And Don't Block The Door, For Y'all May Go Home After Round Four.

Who's Gonna Dare To Be Great?

Dare To Be Great

I Said, 'oh, I Know. If The White Folks Is In Heaven Too, Then The Black Angels Were In The Kitchen, Preparing The Milk And Honey.'

Islam Is Against Killing, Terrorism, And Murder. People Who Commit These Acts In The Name Of Islam Are Wrong. And If I Had A Chance I Would Do Something About It.

What I Will Remember Most About Mr Mandela Is That He Was A Man Whose Heart, Soul And Spirit Could Not Be Contained Or Restrained By Racial And Economic Injustices, Metal Bars Or The Burden Of Hate And Revenge.

Maybe I Was Great In The Ring, But Outside Of Boxing, I'm Just A Brother Like Other People. I Want To Live A Good Life, Serve God, Help Everybody I Can. And One More Thing. I'm Still Gonna Find Out Who Stole My Bike When I Was 12 Years Old In Louisville And I'm Gonna Whup Him. That Was A Good Bike.

What You're Thinking Is What You're Becoming.

Christians Are My Brothers, Hindus Are My Brothers, All Of Them Are My Brothers. We Just Think Different And Believe Different.

I Said A Lot Of Things In The Heat Of The Moment That I Shouldn't Have Said. Called Him Names I Shouldn't Have Called Him. I Apologise For That. I'm Sorry. It Was All Meant To Promote The Fight.

Be Loud, Be Pretty And Keep Their Black-hatin' Asses In Their Chairs

I'm Relyin' On Almighty God, Allah, And Whatever Happens Happens.

Whatever Happens Happens

I'm Proud, And Islam Did It. And After These Things That I Heard In Church, A Preacher And Watching This And That, I Knew Something Was Wrong But I Couldn't Pinpoint It.

I Had Something To Do, Which Most Kids Really Need. Something They Can Look Forward To - A Goal, A Purpose To Work Towards. Something To Achieve. Keeps Them Out Of Trouble.

Women Are Not Equal With Men, That's Sure. When The Woman Is In Danger She Always Looks To The Man For Help. We Are Superior By Nature. The Black Or White Woman Needn't Worry In Life Because The World Is Ruled By The White Man.

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.

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