by Maryann Reid

June 4, 2016

Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee! The 10 Greatest Muhammad Ali Quotes “Of All Time”

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“Muhammad Ali was the grandson of a slave. Let that sit for a moment,” wrote Entrepreneur and Activist, Michael Skolnick on Twitter this morning.

According to reports, Muhammad Ali passed away due to respiratory complications at 74, on June 3 in Phoenix, Arizona.  Known as the “greatest heavyweight boxing champ of all time,” Muhammad Ali was an activist, a storyteller, and a devout man of faith.  A symbol of Black excellence and an American cultural icon, we bid farewell to one of “the greatest” with several Muhammad Ali quotes that give us a glimpse into the mind of a legend.

1. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
2. The word ‘Islam’ means ‘peace.’ The word ‘Muslim’ means ‘one who surrenders to God.’ But the press makes us seem like haters.
3. I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I’m so mean I make medicine sick. 
4.  If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.
5. Cassius Clay is a name that white people gave to my slave master. Now that I am free, that I don’t belong anymore to anyone, that I’m not a slave anymore, I gave back their white name, and I chose a beautiful African one.
6. 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.
7. When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.
8. It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.
9. At home I am a nice guy: but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.
10. It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.

What’s your most memorable Ali quote?