Muhammad Ali was more than just the best boxer to ever walk the Earth. He also was a smart, caring humanitarian who by all accounts was as good a human as he was a fighter.
But Ali, who died Friday at age 74, wasn’t just kind and thoughtful — he also was practically a linguist and philosopher who always seemed to have something intelligent, witty or both to say.
Here are 10 of our favorite quotes from Ali:
10. “I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.”
9. “I’m not the greatest, I’m the double greatest.”
8. “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”
7. “It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.”
6. “I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.”
5. “A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”
4. “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.”
3. “If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize.”
2. “Don’t count the days; make the days count.”
1. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see. Now you see me, now you don’t. George thinks he will, but I know he won’t.”
Thumbnail photo via YouTube/ABC News
