Richard Pryor Quotes & Sayings

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. — Richard Pryor

But thoughts don't care about truth and shit. They sit up in your mind and fuck with you whenever. — Richard Pryor

I believe in divine forces and energies. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

Friends take up time, and I didn't have time. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

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

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

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

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

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

I'm not for integration and I'm not against it. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

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

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. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

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

I think about dying. I've come to realize we all die alone in one way or another. — Richard Pryor

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? — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

I'm for human lib, the liberation of all people, not just black people or female people or gay people. — Richard Pryor

I wanna grow up and be a critic. — Richard Pryor

Freebase? What's free about it? — Richard Pryor

Now they're calling taking drugs an epidemic - that's cos white folks are doing it. — Richard Pryor

If I ain't horny, I check to see if my heart's beatin'. — Richard Pryor

I was an only child. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

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

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. — Richard Pryor

When you're running down the street on fire, people get out of your way! — Richard Pryor

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

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. — Richard Pryor

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

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. — Richard Pryor

I don't want to go through life as a Wonder Wheel murderer! — Richard Pryor

Who you gonna believe-me or your lying eyes? — Richard Pryor

But for the use of physical punishment by, and fear of their oppressors, animals would never be a part of a circus. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

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

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

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. — Richard Pryor

Crosses only scare vampires away because they're allergic to bullshit. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

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

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

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

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. — Richard Pryor

Why get killed when you can run ... your ego will heal much faster than a broken jaw. — Richard Pryor

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

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. — Richard Pryor

So after Another You I ran off to my very own piece of paradise, my home in Hana. — Richard Pryor

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

I had some great things and I had some bad things. The best and the worst ... In other words, I had a life. — Richard Pryor

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

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

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! — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

When you ain't got no money, you gotta get an attitude. — Richard Pryor

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

He's just always positive. He's always smiling and he's always trying. — Richard Pryor

Most people that you talk to, they's intelligent. Like I said, "Most people." — Richard Pryor

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

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

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

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. — Richard Pryor

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

I became a performer because it was what I enjoyed doing. — Richard Pryor

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

Yes, I'm religious. God has shown me things, made certain ways clear to me. — Richard Pryor

All humor is rooted in pain. — Richard Pryor

I'm slower and some days are better than others, but I'm a fighter. — Richard Pryor

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

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

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. — Richard Pryor

I'd like to make you laugh for about ten minutes though I'm gonna be on for an hour. — Richard Pryor

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

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

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. — Richard Pryor

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

You can't talk about fucking in America, people say you're dirty. But if you talk about killing somebody, that's cool. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard 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. — Richard Pryor

What I never understand about a hangover is, where does the breath come from? You know what I mean? I mean, is someone shitting in your mouth? — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

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

The MS really started going downhill in 1990. — Richard Pryor

What I am for is justice for everyone, just like it says in the Constitution. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

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? — Richard Pryor

There's nothing worse than being an aging young person. — Richard Pryor

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. — Richard Pryor

You gotta be cool when you're macho man, cuz you can't be sensitive and care about someone having a good time in bed, cuz that's too scary ... When you don't use sensitivity when you're having sex, or share some of your soul, nothing gonna happen, because men really get afraid. Men really get scared in bed. — Richard Pryor