You’re far more precious than diamonds and pearls...
An incident transpired when Former World Heavy Weight Boxing champion, Muhammad Ali’s daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were quite revealing.
Here is the story as told by one of his daughters.
We exchanged many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day.
“When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father’s suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us.
My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget.
He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to.
"Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected".
"Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell".
"Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get to them".
He looked at me with serious eyes. “Your body is sacred. You’re far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too.”
Muhammad Ali, considered to be the greatest heavyweight boxer, died late Friday night in a Phoenix-area hospital at 74 years old.
"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."
“It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am."
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”
“If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize.”
“Braggin' is when a person says something and can’t do it. I do what I say.”
"I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was."
"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."
"A man who has no imagination has no wings."
"He’s (Sonny Liston) too ugly to be the world champ. The world champ should be pretty like me!"
"I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own."
“I’ve wrestled with alligators. I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning. And throw thunder in jail.”
"Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong."
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'
Don't count the days, make the days count.
