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Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee - A list of best Muhammad Ali quotes

One of the greatest boxers of all time, Muhammad Ali died on Friday at the age of 74. His punches won matches in the ring but his words were just as effective out of the ring. Here are some of Ali's best quotes:

Also read: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali dies at 74 - family

WATCH: Greatest Muhammad Ali knockouts

"Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee, your hands can't hit, what your eyes can't see."
"If you even dream of beating me, you better wake up and apologize."

"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."

"If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it – then I can achieve it."

"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."

"I'm not the greatest; I'm the double greatest. Not only do I knock 'em out, I pick the round."

"It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am."

"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."

"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up."

"Live every day like it's your last because someday you're going to be right." 

"I am so fast that last night I turned off the light switch and was in bed before the room was dark."

"Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beating each other up."  

"Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it, and I didn't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name, and I insist people using it when speaking to me and of me."

"It will be a killer and a chiller and a thriller when I get the gorilla in Manila." 

"Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even."  

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."

"I am the greatest, I'm the greatest that ever lived. I don't have a mark on my face."

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