Richard Pryor Quotes

I urge you to ask yourself just how honorable it is to preside over the abuse and suffering of animals.

I expected Dracula to come jumping out any second. If he did I'd have held up a cross, cause he's allergic to bullshit.

Who you gonna believe-me or your lying eyes?

Do you know how you felt when you would lean all the way back in a chair, and just before you were about to tip over, at the very last second, you'd catch yourself ? That's how I feel all the time.

I went through every phone book in Africa, and I didn't find one god damned Pryor!

There was a time in my life when I thought I had everything - millions of dollars, mansions, cars, nice clothes, beautiful women, and every other materialistic thing you can imagine. Now I struggle for peace.

He's just always positive. He's always smiling and he's always trying.

Rosa Parks showed us all that one little person can make a whole bunch of noise without so much as a whisper. She showed the world that the color of your skin shouldn't determine what part of the bus you sit in ... as you ride through life.

If you want a friend, you don't buy a friend, Eric, you earn a friend through love and trust and respect.

When I was in Africa, this voice came to me and said, Richard, what do you see? I said, I see all types of people. The voice said, But do you see any niggers? I said, No. It said, Do you know why? 'Cause there aren't any.

When that fire hit your ass, it will sober your ass up quick! I saw something, I went, Well, that's a pretty blue. You know what? That looks like ... FIRE! Fire is inspirational. They should use it in the Olympics, because I ran the 100 in 4.3.

In March I had a minor heart attack while I was vacationing in Australia. it scared me, but it was nothing compared to what someone had in store for me down the road.

I had to stop drinkin, cuz I got tired of waking up in my car driving ninety.

Movies are movies, and I don't think any of them are going to hurt the moral fiber of America and all that nonsense.

I love show business. I wake up every morning and kiss it.

Imagine people calling you to find out if you're dead. I've led a real crazy life at times, and I've had many strange things happen to me, but that was one of the strangest.

I can't just say the words, do a lot of one-liners. I love each person I play; I have to be that person. I have to do him true.

It's been a struggle for me because I had a chance to be white and refused.

What I'm saying might be profane, but it's also profound.

There are only two pieces of pussy you're gonna get in your entire life, that's your first and your last.

I won't talk about what it was like in prison, except to say I'm glad I'm out and that I plan never to go back and to pay my taxes every day.

I'm not for integration and I'm not against it.

Sure, I have friends, plenty of friends, and they all come around wantin' to borrow money. I've always been generous with my friends and family, with money, but selfish with the important stuff like love.

All humor is rooted in pain.

That's insanity. We must be good all the time.

I realized this is what God has dealt me, and I should be thankful considering all that's happened to me in my life, but MS caused the movies to stop - stop dead - and I miss it.

There's a thin line between to laugh with and to laugh at.

I never met anybody who said when they were a kid, I wanna grow up and be a critic.

If you ask me about women's lib, I say I don't even know what that is.

I'm not addicted to cocaine. I just like the way it smells.

I ain't no movie star, man. I'm a booty star.

Even when I was a little kid, I always said I would be in the movies one day, and damned if I didn't make it.

I was kicked out of school because of my attitude. I was not assimilating. So I went to work, taking any jobs I could get.

Two things people throughout history have had in common are hatred and humour. I am proud that I have been able to use humour to lessen people's hatred.

The MS really started going downhill in 1990.

I believe the ability to think is blessed. If you can think about a situation, you can deal with it. The big struggle is to keep your head clear enough to think.

Have you ever noticed how quiet you get when you go in the woods? It's almost like you know that God's there.

To be diagnosed was the hardest thing because I didn't know what they were talking about ... And the doctor said, Don't worry, in three months you'll know. So I went about my business and then, one day, it jumped me. I couldn't get up ... Your muscles trick you; they did me.

I became a performer because it was what I enjoyed doing.

A sold-out house my first night back. Do you have any idea what kinda pressure that is? I could have been at home in my warm bed, playing Nintendo.

The way I see it, the earth is going to be here after we're dead and gone. Even if it's a polluted planet, and they messed it up. Where do they go from here - to another planet so they can mess that up too?

Marriage is really tough because you have to deal with feelings ... and lawyers.

The black groups that boycott certain films would do better to get the money together to make the films they want to see, or stay in church and leave us to our work.

If I thought about it, I could be bitter, but I don't feel like being bitter. Being bitter makes you immobile, and there's too much that I still want to do.

I know that if I wasn't scared, something's wrong, because the thrill is what's scary.

Hawaii is the best form of comfort for me. When I die, I want to be cremated, and I want half my ashes spread in the Pacific around the island, the rest on the property.

You have to have lived some life. You've got to have paid some dues.

I don't see myself getting married again, but if I do, it will be forever.

I was given two weeks to walk again, so I hooked up with a trainer, and he ... had me walking. I'll never forget that, it was grueling.

A lie is profanity. A lie is the worst thing in the world. Art is the ability to tell the truth.

You work your butt off and somebody says you can't have your record played because it offends them. Tyrants are made of such stuff.

You don't get to be old bein' no fool ...

Booty is just a ghetto expression, and I'm just a booty star.

I bought my parents a home before they died, and they got to see that I was going to be all right. They always thought I would go someplace.

No, I'm not dying, and I sure ... ain't dead.

The reason people use a crucifix against vampires is because vampires are allergic to bullshit.

Unfortunately, the show's success comes at the expense of its biggest asset
the comedians themselves.

I wanna grow up and be a critic.

My grandmother used to discipline me, I mean, beat my ass, and I deserved them, too.

Someone called all the newspapers in New York and told them I'd died. I've been told by almost everyone it was an ex-wife - I've had a few so it's hard to pinpoint which one - but who knows for sure?

It's so much easier for me to talk about my life in front of two thousand people than it is one-to-one. I'm a real defensive person, because if you were sensitive in my neighborhood you were something to eat.

I see people as the nucleus of a great idea that hasn't come to be yet.

There's a lot more hypocrisy than before. Racism has gone back underground.

I was a loner and never hung out with anyone. I never had any friends.

I went to Zimbabwe. I know how white people feel in America now; relaxed! Cause when I heard the police car I knew they weren't coming after me!

I think about being married again, having a home and a wife. No one can ever be married too many times, and maybe if I keep trying I'll get it right one day.

I believe in divine forces and energies.

Who you gonna believe, bitch? Me? or your lying eyes?