Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential stand-up comedians of all time. Profoundly inspirational Richard Pryor quotes will make you look at life differently and help you live a meaningful life.
If you’re searching for famous quotes by comedians that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of famous Ricky Gervais quotes, greatest Russell Brand quotes and powerful Trevor Noah quotes.
Famous Richard Pryor Quotes
I’m not for integration and I’m not against it.
I was a loner and never hung out with anyone. I never had any friends.
You can’t talk about fucking in America, people say you’re dirty. But if you talk about killing somebody, that’s cool.
What I am for is justice for everyone, just like it says in the Constitution.
I don’t see myself getting married again, but if I do, it will be forever.
I’m for human lib, the liberation of all people, not just black people or female people or gay people.
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?
I see people as the nucleus of a great idea that hasn’t come to be yet.
There’s a thin line between to laugh with and to laugh at.
I think about dying. I’ve come to realize we all die alone in one way or another.
Everyone carries around his own monsters.
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 went through every phone book in Africa, and I didn’t find one god damned Pryor!
I became a performer because it was what I enjoyed doing.
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 had to stop drinking, ‘cause I got tired of waking up in my car driving ninety.
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!
Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?
Inspirational Richard Pryor Quotes
All humor is rooted in pain.
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.
Sure, I have friends, plenty of friends, and they all come around wanting to borrow money. I’ve always been generous with my friends and family, with money, but selfish with the important stuff like love.
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?
A lie is profanity. A lie is the worst thing in the world. Art is the ability to tell the truth.
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.
I just don’t want to die alone, that’s all. That’s not too much to ask for, is it? It would be nice to have someone care about me, for who I am, not about my wallet.
If you want a friend, you don’t buy a friend. You earn a friend through love and trust and respect.
But thoughts don’t care about truth and shit. They sit up in your mind and fuck with you whenever.
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.
I ain’t no movie star, man. I’m a booty star.
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.
You don’t have to be smart. You don’t have to be beautiful. All you have to do is be yourself.
It’s been a struggle for me because I had a chance to be white and refused.
Marriage is really tough because you have to deal with feelings… and lawyers.
I know that if I wasn’t scared, something’s wrong, because the thrill is what’s scary.
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.
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.
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.
The reason people use a crucifix against vampires is because vampires are allergic to bullshit.
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 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.
I believe in divine forces and energies.
Friends take up time, and I didn’t have time.
I had some great things and I had some bad things. The best and the worst…In other words, I had a life.
I urge you to ask yourself just how honorable it is to preside over the abuse and suffering of animals.
Top Richard Pryor Quotes
Comedy rules! Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise, and there are no rules in stand-up comedy, which I really like. You can do anything you want and you can say anything that comes to mind, just so long as it’s funny.
When you ain’t got no money, you gotta get an attitude.
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.
You don’t get to be old bein’ no fool.
There’s nothing worse than being an aging young person.
What I’m saying might be profane, but it’s also profound.
It’s easy to love somebody.
I’m not addicted to cocaine. I just like the way it smells.
Now they’re calling taking drugs an epidemic, that’s ‘cause white folks are doing it.
I don’t want to go through life as a Wonder Wheel murderer!
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.
I’d like to make you laugh for about ten minutes though I’m gonna be on for an hour.
Have you ever noticed how quiet you get when you go in the woods? It’s almost like you know that God’s there.
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.
I believe in the institution of marriage, and I intend to keep trying till I get it right.
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.
There’s a lot more hypocrisy than before. Racism has gone back underground.
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.
I never met anybody who said when they were a kid, I wanna grow up and be a critic.
Yes, I’m religious. God has shown me things, made certain ways clear to me.
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.
Movies are movies, and I don’t think any of them are going to hurt the moral fiber of America and all that nonsense.
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.
I’’m a real defensive person, because if you were sensitive in my neighborhood you were something to eat.
