“As bad as your situation may be, someone else always has it worse than you.”

I know from experience that you should never give up on yourself or others, no matter what.

They say I don’t fight guys unless they’re on a respirator. That’s incorrect. They have to be at least 3 days off a respirator.

I’m working for the Lord, and even though the Lord’s pay isn’t very high, his retirement program is.

There ain’t nothing like being in the corner, and the trainer is whispering in your ear and another guy is putting in your mouthpiece. Five seconds to go, the boom! The bell. It’s more exciting than looking down a cliff.

To be successful in life, you must get in the habit of turning negatives into positives.

I do believe he’s the greatest, but forget about boxing – give that to Joe Louis, or somebody – I believe he’s one of the greatest men I’ve ever met.

My mother was watching on television and she doesn’t want me to hurt anyone.

If you can look in your mother’s eyes and she’s proud of you, then you’re a champion.

All I’ve ever tried to tell anyone is that I’m not a black man or a white man or anything else. All I’ve ever been was an American.

A boxer never sees the big one that hits him.

Anybody going into boxing already has brain damage.

People are hurt in love affairs and never recover, more than a boxing match.

We, too, need to be patient, especially when it comes to reaching new goals.

I am a winner each and every time I go into the ring.

Today the biggest decisions I make aren’t related to the heavyweight title. They are whether I visit McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, or Jack-in-the-Box.

I respect that you want to protect your niece. You know, I didn’t want my daughter to become a boxer. Neither did Mohammad. But Joe Frazier, on the other hand, he had his baby girl boxing in the crib.

Every person I killed I strongly believe that they were bad. When I do go face God there is going to be lots of things I will have to account for but killing any of those people is not one of them.

My feeling is, quite simply, that if there is a God, He has done such a bad job that he isn’t worth discussing.

When times are bad is when you want to build! Why wait for things to pick up so everything will cost more?

I am a bad boy. I don’t come across clearly to a lot of people, so I am bad for them.

I just want to get the bad guys but if I can’t see them, I can’t shoot them.

I’m probably the only guy in hockey who can win a scoring title and everybody is saying I had a bad year. I don’t worry about it.

As if flesh and skin and hands are any match for bullets. As if bones won’t crack in hails of powder and lead. As if rivers of blood are not the direct result of trigger fingers that bend but do not break on “bad days”.

Bad things can happen to you, but it doesn’t mean you have to have regrets. It’s all about what you do with it.