Quotes by Richard Pryor

• When you ain't got no money, you gotta get an attitude.
• 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.
• Marriage is really tough because you have to deal with feelings... and lawyers.
• 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?
• 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.
• 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?
• 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.
• There's a lot more hypocrisy than before. Racism has gone back underground.
• 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.
• What I am for is justice for everyone, just like it says in the Constitution.
• Yes, I'm religious. God has shown me things, made certain ways clear to me.
• I'd like to make you laugh for about ten minutes though I'm gonna be on for an hour.
• It's been a struggle for me because I had a chance to be white and refused.
• There's a thin line between to laugh with and to laugh at.
• I ain't no movie star, man. I'm a booty star.
• 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 don't see myself getting married again, but if I do, it will be forever.
• I'm not for integration and I'm not against it.
• 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 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 the institution of marriage, and I intend to keep trying till I get it right.
• I know that if I wasn't scared, something's wrong, because the thrill is what's scary.
• I became a performer because it was what I enjoyed doing.
• 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.
• 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.
• Friends take up time, and I didn't have time.
• Everyone carries around his own monsters.
• 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.
• Booty is just a ghetto expression, and I'm just a booty star.
• 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 divine forces and energies.
• I was a loner and never hung out with anyone. I never had any friends.
• 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'm for human lib, the liberation of all people, not just black people or female people or gay people.
• 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 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 was kicked out of school because of my attitude. I was not assimilating. So I went to work, taking any jobs I could get.
• I was an only child.
• I urge you to ask yourself just how honorable it is to preside over the abuse and suffering of animals.
• I think about dying. I've come to realize we all die alone in one way or another.
• I was brought up in a whorehouse in Peoria. My mother and father lived there and worked there.
• 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 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 never met anybody who said when they were a kid, I wanna grow up and be a critic.