Richard Pryor

Comedian

Modern influential 127 sayings

Sayings by Richard Pryor

I believe the children are our future. Unless we stop them now.

1979 — Stand-up special, 'Live in Concert'
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

You know, you're not famous until you get shot.

1980 — Interview, 'Ebony' magazine
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I live in racist America and I’m uneducated, yet a lot of people love me and like what I do, and I can make a living from it. You can’t do much better than that.

1979 — Interview
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

I’m for anything that gets you through the night—be it prayer, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniels.

1975 — Stand-up comedy
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I had a dog named ‘Stay.’ I’d say, ‘Come here, Stay!’ He’d just sit there.

1970s — Stand-up comedy
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Women can’t joke about sex. They can joke about love, but if they joke about sex, they’re whores.

1979 — Interview
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

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!

1982 — Stand-up comedy
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

You know that crazy shit white people be doing? That’s why I don’t want to be white no more.

1980s — Stand-up comedy
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I freebased for the first time in 1980 and it was the most incredible feeling. For about eight seconds—then you wanna do it again.

1986 — Interview
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Niggas are the most together people on the planet—we just don’t know it yet.

1975 — Stand-up comedy
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The first time I ever saw a vagina up close, I thought somebody had been skinned alive.

1970s — Stand-up comedy
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

When you’re running from the police, you don’t have time to think about how fast you are; you just run.

1970s — Stand-up comedy
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I had a great life, but I fucked it up.

1995 — Interview
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

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

1970s — Stand-up comedy
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

I went to Africa and I saw the real thing. I saw the real people. I saw the real culture. And I came back and I was a changed man.

1979 — Interview on 'The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'
Controversial Unverifiable

I don't think there's any difference between black people and white people. We're all just people. We all bleed the same. We all cry the same. We all laugh the same.

1977 — Interview
Controversial Unverifiable

I'm not a racist. I'm just a man who tells the truth.

1982 — Interview
Controversial Unverifiable

I don't believe in God. I believe in myself. I believe in the power of the human spirit.

1980 — Interview
Controversial Unverifiable

I don't believe in heaven. I don't believe in hell. I don't believe in an afterlife. I believe in this life. And I believe in making the most of it.

1983 — Interview
Controversial Unverifiable

I don't believe in fate. I believe in choice. I believe in making your own choices, and living with the consequences.

1979 — Interview
Controversial Unverifiable