“Many people fail not so much because of their mistakes; they fail because they are afraid to try.”

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.

I think its so good for boxing when a new guy or new blood as we call it, makes a big statement.

Heroes have a rough time because they stand up when they ought not to, they speak when they ought not to; they always have to go that extra mile.

Boxing is like jazz. The better it is, the less people appreciate it.

Anytime I can sneak in a moment to fish and ride horses, I’m a happy camper!

A hero is someone right who doesn’t change.

My whole family likes to play basketball. George II plays for his high school team and George III and George IV and George V are going to be good players. One day we’re going to have a team and call it Georgetown.

If you don’t dream, you might as well be dead.

Faith is the effort to believe what your common sense tells you is not true.

The amateur tweets. The pro works.

But what if we took it one step further and made an effort to actually transform our pain into something beautiful? What if we went full out and made an effort to transform other people’s pain into something beautiful?

From kindergarten to college, certain teachers engaged my curiosity and motivated me to learn. While I was not the best student, their efforts left a lasting impact.

The people on Wall Street broke this country, and they did it one lousy mortgage at a time. It happened more than three years ago, and there has been no real accountability, and there has been no real effort to fix it.

Some people are a little bit better than others, some people are great, some people are superior. It depends on the level of effort.

Be a bit of a challenge; not because you’re playing games but because you realize you’re worth the extra effort.

Every master was once a beginner. Every pro was once an amateur.