Pele has been praised over the decades by everyone from world leaders to artists. Here are superlatives from over the years about Pele, who died Thursday in Brazil at age 82:
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鈥淭o watch him play was to watch the delight of a child combined with the extraordinary grace of a man in full.鈥 鈥 Nelson Mandela.
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鈥淚 told myself before the game, he鈥檚 made of skin and bones just like everyone else 鈥 but I was wrong.鈥 鈥 Italy's Tarcisio Burgnich, after playing against Pele in the 1970 World Cup Final.
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鈥淧el茅 was one of the few who contradicted my theory: Instead of 15 minutes of fame, he will have 15 centuries.鈥 鈥 Andy Warhol.
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鈥淚 sometimes feel as though football was invented for this magical player.鈥 鈥 Sir Bobby Charlton, retired England great who won 1966 World Cup and Ballon d鈥橭r in same year.
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鈥淧el茅 was the only footballer who surpassed the boundaries of logic.鈥 鈥 Johan Cruyff, the late Dutch star and standout manager who won the Ballon d鈥橭r three times.
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鈥淗e is the most complete player I ever saw.鈥 鈥 Retired German great Franz Beckenbauer.
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鈥淚f you take the qualities of Cristiano Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi, put them together, then you鈥檇 have a player to compare to Pel茅!鈥 鈥 Retired Brazil forward Tostao.
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鈥淭he best player ever? Pel茅. (Lionel) Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are both great players with specific qualities, but Pel茅 was better.鈥 鈥 Alfredo Di Stefano, the late Argentine star for Real Madrid.
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鈥淗is great secret was improvisation. Those things he did were in one moment. He had an extraordinary perception of the game.鈥 鈥 Brazil defender Carlos Alberto Torres.
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鈥淭his debate about the player of the century is absurd. There鈥檚 only one possible answer: Pel茅. He鈥檚 the greatest player of all time, and by some distance, I might add.鈥 鈥 Retired Brazil star Zico.
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鈥淭he greatest player in history was Di Stefano. I refuse to classify Pel茅 as a player. He was above that.鈥 鈥 Hungary star Ferenc Puskas.
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鈥淲e went up together to head a ball. I was taller, had a better impulse. When I came back down, I looked up in astonishment. Pel茅 was still there, in the air, heading that ball. It was like he could stay suspended for as long as he wanted to.鈥 鈥 Italy defender Giacinto Facchetti.
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鈥淲hen I saw Pel茅 play, it made me feel I should hang up my boots.鈥 鈥 Just Fontaine, the Morocco-born French star who scored 13 goals in six games in the 1958 World Cup.
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鈥淭he moment the ball arrived at Pel茅鈥檚 feet, football transformed into poetry.鈥 鈥 Italian poet Pier Paolo Pasolini.
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鈥淭he difficulty, the extraordinary, is not to score 1,000 goals like Pel茅 鈥 it鈥檚 to score one goal like Pel茅.鈥 鈥 Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet.
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鈥淧el茅 was the most complete player I鈥檝e ever seen. Two good feet. Magic in the air. Quick. Powerful. Could beat people with skill. Could outrun people. Only 5-feet-8 inches tall, yet he seemed a giant of an athlete on the pitch. Perfect balance and impossible vision.鈥 鈥 Bobby Moore, captain of the 1966 World Cup champion team from England.
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鈥淚 arrived hoping to stop a great man, but I went away convinced I had been undone by someone who was not born on the same planet as the rest of us.鈥 鈥 Benfica goalkeeper Costa Pereira after 5-2 loss to Santos.
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鈥淭here鈥檚 Pel茅 the man, and then Pel茅 the player. And to play like Pel茅 is to play like God.鈥 鈥 Retired France star and three-time Ballon d鈥橭r winner Michel Platini.
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鈥淧el茅 is the greatest player in football history, and there will only be one Pel茅 in the world.鈥 鈥 Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal star forward.
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Sources: , , AP research.
