LEO Celebrates Muhammad Ali, The Original G.O.A.T. With Our Ten Fav. Ali Quotes

Muhammad Ali was born in Louisville, on Jan. 17, 1942. Ali grew up in Louisville’s West End on Grand Avenue. Ali began his training as a fighter when he was 12, and at age 18, won a gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics. That same year, he decided to turn pro and then converted to Islam in 1961. In 1964, at age 22, he won the world heavyweight championship defeating Sonny Liston. Ali was known not only for his physical jabs, but the ones he dished out with his mouth. The Louisville Lip was known for being light and fast on his feet and equally skilled with his words. To celebrate Ali, on what would have been his 81st birthday, we gathered a list of our Top 10 favorite Ali quotes and let you know why we love it. 

Here they are (in no specific order)

• "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."

Why: This quote speaks for itself. Serving others is vital to making the human family work better. Even at LEO, we work to serve the community around us. 

• “If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.”

Why: Well, because anything is possible. Right?

• "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can't hit what his eyes can't see. Now you see me, now you don't. George thinks he will, but I know he won't.

Why: We hope to be as nimble. If we’re unpredictable, quick and like a butterfly, you’ll never be able to pin us down. 

•  “I’ve wrestled with alligators. I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning. And throw thunder in jail.”

Why: It’s just fun. Good braggadocio is a lost art. 

• “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”

Why: He could back it up. 

• “Live every day as if it were your last because someday you're going to be right.”

Why: He’s right. So get cracking and if you aren’t making the most of today, what are you waiting for?

• "I don't count the sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting because they're the only ones that count. That's what makes you a champion."

Why: We want to be more like The Champ. We count them all and they all hurt. 

• "Impossible is just a 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 potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."

Why: Because nothing is impossible and impossible is nothing. You want to change something, harness the potential to shift it. It might work. It might not but trying won’t hurt. 

• "The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."

Why: Keep your mind in the game and enrich who you are when you’re alone. 

• "I'm the most recognized and loved man that ever lived cuz there weren't no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn't know about them."

Why: I love this quote because it was true. I’ve met many celebrities, but only Ali left me awestruck.