Muhammad Ali's 20 best quotes

Muhammad Ali was undisputedly the best showman in sports, with his verbal punches hitting just as hard as he did in the ring.

A deep thinker and a pioneering athlete in the world of social justice, Muhammed Ali was so much more than a boxer.

R.I.P MUHAMMAD ALI: Remembering the World's Greatest

He will be remembered for not only his feats in the ring and his impact on society, his sharp tongue and quick wit drew so many to him and could put a smile on anyone's face.

Here are 20 of his best one-liners in no particular order.

1. "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."

2. "I'm young; I'm handsome; I'm fast. I can't possibly be beat."

3. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."

4. "He’s (Sonny Liston) too ugly to be the world champ. The world champ should be pretty like me!"

5. “It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am.”

6. "I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own."

7. “If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologise.”

8. “I’ve wrestled with an alligator. I done tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning, threw thunder in jail. That's bad. Only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick. I'm so mean I make medicine sick.

9. “Braggin' is when a person says something and can’t do it. I do what I say.”

10. "I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”

11. “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.”

12. “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.”

13. "Last night I cut the light off in my bedroom, hit the switch, and was in the bed before the room was dark."

14. "I should be a postage stamp. That's the only way I'll ever get licked.”

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

16. "I'm the most recognised 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."

17. “Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them, a desire, a dream, a vision.”

18. “If you sign to fight me, you need speed and endurance but what you need most is to increase your insurance”

19. “I’ve seen George Foreman shadow boxing. And the shadow won.”

20. “Now you see me, now you don’t. George thinks he will, but I know he won’t!”