"Cassius Clay's" response to Messenger Elijah Muhammad

"He's got a right to spank all of us...I am his humble servant. What I said was out of place. And that's that. What he says will suffice. Boxing is temporary. I will be a Muslim until the day I die. I only pray that he will forgive me and let me back. We have a saying that there are not big I's and little you's -- that it's all in the religion. When I'm wrong. I must pay like everybody else."

"Muhammad Ali" quoted in "The Daily News", Miami, Florida, by  John Crittenden, sports editor.