The Greatest, The Poet: Muhammad Ali In His Own Words

Muhammad Ali enlivened many of his news conference and training sessions with poems. They caused many people to laugh, some to cringe.

Ali could be Robert Frost in a robe; Maya Angelou with a championship belt, though his sometimes simplistic stanzas sometimes leaned more toward something out of a Dr. Seuss book. He was a true beat poet - as in, he loved having a rhyme to have a reason to thump his latest rival.

These helped make Ali one of the poet laureates of boxing.

Following are some quotations from Ali:

•  "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."
•  "It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up."
•  "Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up."
•  "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."
•  "I've wrestled with alligators. I've tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning, and throw thunder in jail. You know I'm bad. Just 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. I'm the boldest, the prettiest, the most superior, most scientific, most skillfullest fighter in the ring today."
•  "I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin' hell but as long as they ain't free, I ain't free."
•  "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong."
•  "I may not talk perfect white talk-type English but I give you wisdom."
•  "If Ali says a mosquito can pull a plow, don't ask how. Hitch him up!"
•  "I'm the onliest person that can speak to everybody in the whole world. My name is known in Serbia, Pakistan, Morocco. These are countries that don't follow the Kentucky Derby."
•  "Sometimes I feel a little sad because I can see how some things I said could upset some people. But I did not deliberately try to hurt anyone. The hype was part of my job, like skipping rope."
•  "Now the things that once were so effortless - my strong voice and the quickness of my movements - are more difficult. But I get up every day and try to live life to the fullest because each day is a gift from God."