Floyd Mayweather Jr. (FMJ) turns 40 today [Feb. 24], and to help mark the five-weight world champion’s birthday, ESPN has selected 40 quotes from or about the man known as “Money.”

1. FMJ: “I’ve had boxing gloves on since before I could walk and been in gyms all of my life.”

2. FMJ: “When I was about 8 or 9, I lived in New Jersey with my mother, and we were seven deep in one bedroom and sometimes we didn’t have electricity.”

3. FMJ: “My grandmother saw my potential first. When I was young, I told her, ‘I think I should get a job.’ She said, ‘No, just keep boxing.'”

4. FMJ: “It’s never been easy for me. The boxing is easy, but life has never been easy.”

5. FMJ on his dad, Floyd Sr.: “I always thought that he liked his daughter better than he liked me because she never got whippings, and I got whippings all the time.”

6. Floyd Sr. on how he used his baby son as a human shield when threatened at gunpoint: “I used my man because if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here today. I was still shot in the leg. What would you do with a gun on you?”

7. FMJ: “I knew that I was going to have to try to take care of my mum, and I made the decision that school wasn’t that important at the time. I was going to have to box to earn a living.”

8. FMJ: “Once I am in the square circle, I am in my home.”

9. FMJ: “I had a father who was a hustler and a mother who was on drugs. I was the man in the house from 16. That’s just the way it was.”

10. FMJ: “When I was in the ring at the Olympics, it was my father’s words that I was hearing, not the coaches’. I never listened to what the coaches said. I would call my father, and he would give me advice from prison.”

11. FMJ on refusing to sign a seven-fight, $12.5 million deal with U.S. broadcaster HBO in 1999: “Why would I sign a contract like that? It’s slave wages.”

12. FMJ after his controversial points win over Jose Luis Castillo in 2002: “I wasn’t worried at all. I was outboxing him easy. The first time a guy lands a few shots on me, and they say it was a close fight. That’s because usually I blow them out of the water.”

13. FMJ in 2005, after labeling Arturo Gatti a “C+ fighter” and then stopping him in six rounds, said: “He’s a great champion, and I’m a great champion. Everything I said about him before the fight was just to hype the fight.”

14. FMJ after beating Oscar De La Hoya in 2007: “It was a masterpiece of boxing. I showed you why I am the best fighter of this era.”

15. FMJ in 2007: “In between five and 10 years, I will be a billionaire, and then I want to be the first African-American to have a casino. I want to be the 60 percent owner of a casino on Las Vegas Boulevard. That ain’t a dream. That’s going to be a fact.”

16. Ricky Hatton in 2007: “Everyone respects Floyd for his talent, but where do you draw the line between selling tickets and showing a bit of respect?”

17. FMJ before fighting Ricky Hatton in 2007: “When I retire, I’ll get Hatton to wash my clothes and cut my lawn and buckle my shoes.”

18. Hatton: “What’s the point of being the world’s best fighter if everyone thinks you’re a d—head?”

19. FMJ after beating Juan Manuel Marquez in 2009: “I’ve been off for two years, so I felt like it took me a couple of rounds to really know I was back in the ring again. I know I’ll get better.”

20. Marquez: “When I hit him, he laughed.”

21. FMJ in 2011, after knocking out Victor Ortiz: “In the ring, you have to protect yourself at all times. After it happened, we touched gloves and we were back to fighting, and then I threw the left hook and right hand after the break. You just gotta protect yourself at all times.”

22. FMJ, in the postfight interview after knocking out Ortiz, said to HBO commentator Larry Merchant: “You never give me a fair shake. HBO needs to fire you because you don’t know s— about boxing. You ain’t s—. You’re not s—.”

23. FMJ after beating Robert Guerrero in 2013, with his dad back in the corner: “I needed my father tonight. My defense was on point, and he told me to stick with my defense, and that the less you get hit, the longer you last.”

24. Floyd Sr.: “Honestly, Floyd could have danced the whole night. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do in there tonight.”

25. FMJ told Miguel Cotto in the ring, after beating him in 2012: “You’re a hell of a champion. You’re the toughest guy I ever fought.”

26. FMJ after beating Canelo Alvarez in 2013: “Seventeen years, and I’m still going strong. I think had I pressed the attack earlier, I could have gotten the stoppage, but I am very happy with my performance.”

27. Marcos Maidana after losing his first fight with Mayweather in 2014: “I feel I was robbed. I feel I won. I trained hard, and I fought a good fight. And I feel that this was an injustice.”

28. FMJ: “You’ve got to have a villain, and they’ll always make me a villain. I’m used to it — it makes me work harder, and it makes me fight harder.”

29. Promoter Bob Arum ahead of Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao: “We had Ali-Frazier, we had Leonard-Duran, we had Leonard-Hagler, and now we have Pacquiao and Mayweather. This is the biggest fight of its era. It’s a great event for boxing. Everybody around the world is interested in this fight — ambassadors, senators, celebrities.”

30. FMJ before fighting Pacquiao: “I’m in the gym working right now, dedicating myself to the sport, pushing myself to the limit, because I never wanted to win a fight so bad in my life.”

31. FMJ after beating Pacquiao: “He’s a hell of a fighter. I take my hat off to Pacquiao. Now I see why he’s one of the guys at the pinnacle.”

32. FMJ on equaling Rocky Marciano’s unbeaten 49-0 record: “That means it’s part of boxing history. Records are made to be broken. Hopefully, we can find the next Floyd Mayweather who can break the record.”

33. FMJ after beating Andre Berto in September 2015: “My career is over. It’s official. You got to know when to hang it up, and it’s time for me to hang it up. I’m leaving the sport with all my faculties. I’m still smart. I’m still sharp. I’ve accomplished everything. There’s nothing else to accomplish. I am the best.”

34. FMJ: “Ali was a great fighter, but I’m better. [Sugar Ray] Robinson was a great fighter, but I’m better.”

35. FMJ said on ESPN last month: “What are we judging fighters on? Because if we’re judging fighters on standing for a cause, then it’s Ali, hands down. But if we’re talking about taking the least punishment and breaking records, it’s Floyd Mayweather.”

36. FMJ: “I have to take my hat off to Ali, but I didn’t give this sport 40 years to say that there’s another fighter better than me.”

37. FMJ: “I’m the best at talking trash. I’m also the best at going out there and backing it up.”

38. Sugar Ray Leonard: “Floyd is a very precise fighter. He’s a technician in the ring. He’s a great counterpuncher. He reminds me of his father, who pretty much fought in the same way. Floyd would have held his own in my era. I told Floyd that I would have beat him if he was in my era. And he told me the same thing, that he would beat me if I was in his era.”

39. FMJ, in 2015, told Showtime: “I’m loyal and honest, and I’m a good person. I call a spade a spade. Money doesn’t make me; I make money. Without money, I’d be the same person.”

40. FMJ on fighting UFC star Conor McGregor: “We tried to make the McGregor fight. My number was $100 million [£82.5m]. We offered him $15 million [£12m].”