A biography for George Foremanhasn’t been written yet.
“It's very important that people know that I really enjoy everything that has happened to me. And I tell my kids... you're not going to be the tallest, fastest, prettiest, the best track runner, but you can be the nicest human being that someone has ever met in their life. And I just want to leave that legacy that being nice is a true treasure.”
“I'm a winner each and every time I go into the ring.”
“In boxing, I had a lot of fear. Fear was good. But, for the first time, in the bout with Muhammad Ali, I didn't have any fear. I thought, 'This is easy. This is what I've been waiting for'. No fear at all. No nervousness. And I lost.”
“Oh, there's nothing more dangerous in life at getting hurt at than love itself. People are hurt in love affairs and never recover, more than a boxing match.”
“Just look at the great Nelson Mandela. He came out of prison and saved his entire country. Some of the best people in the world have spent time in prison.”
“Muhammad Ali is a true hero, and the fact there's something wrong with him is his badge of valour. He's a great man.”
“When I was a boxer, I wanted to be champion of the world, not the richest man in the world.”
“When it gets to the part in life where you're more afraid of what your wife is going to do to you than if you box, say, Mike Tyson, you've got to get a new profession. You don't get to be a family. I know why boxers never quit, some of them. They don't have wives.”
“As a child I was sometimes so hungry that I used to dream that one day I'd get locked in a grocery store.”
“They'll take everything, even your tears.”
“Sonny Liston stood up to me and actually made me give ground. No one has ever done that to me before or since.”
“Sports are sports. Its all about how we carry ourselves out of the ring.”
“A Jack Russell terrier? My god. He'll burn you up. They never stop. A German shepherd, you can only go so many miles.”
“'Iron' Mike Tyson is the last boxer who was truly embraced by the media. They followed him around. You didn't know what he was going to do next: bite you, cut you, fight you. When you think about it, that defines him - it was an exciting adventure.”
“I feel that I had been rescued from the gutter by America. One day I was under the gutter, chased by police, thinking dogs were going to get me. I laid there listening to the dogs and the gutter. The next day, there I am standing on the Olympic platform, and you hear the anthem. I was proud.”
“I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing and the shadow won.”
“I am so happy to be alive. That's the one thing I'd like for people to know. Sometimes people walk by and slip up and say the wrong thing about me, and I'll smile. They wonder why am I smiling. Because I'm happy that I'm alive.”
“Generally when there's a lot of smoke... there's just a whole lot more smoke.”
“My favorite drink is water - the bland one: Evian. I stick with that. I celebrate in the evening sometimes with Perrier. That's why I love coming to California. They're always talking to you about bottled water.”
“I'm on the record for five losses or something like that, but the one guy who really whipped me was Muhammad Ali. And it taught me one big lesson. That no matter how big and strong you are, you're going to have to use your mind. You must think things out.”