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I Became A Performer Because It Was What I Enjoyed Doing.

-Richard Pryor

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I Became A Performer

Richard Pryor

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I Became A Performer Because It Was What I Enjoyed Doing.

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Friends Take Up Time, And I Didn't Have Time.

I Became A Performer Because It Was What I Enjoyed Doing.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

I Don't Want To Go Through Life As A Wonder Wheel Murderer!

But For The Use Of Physical Punishment By, And Fear Of Their Oppressors, Animals Would Never Be A Part Of A Circus.

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.

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.

A Lie Is Profanity. A Lie Is The Worst Thing In The World. Art Is The Ability To Tell The Truth.

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.

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.

There Are Only Two Pieces Of Pussy You're Gonna Get In Your Entire Life, That's Your First And Your Last.

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?

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.

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?

When You Ain't Got No Money, You Gotta Get An Attitude.

Unfortunately, The Show's Success Comes At The Expense Of Its Biggest Asset -- The Comedians Themselves.

I'm Not For Integration And I'm Not Against It.

My Grandmother Used To Discipline Me, I Mean, Beat My Ass, And I Deserved Them, Too.

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.

Have You Ever Noticed How Quiet You Get When You Go In The Woods? It's Almost Like You Know That God's There.

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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.

There's A Lot More Hypocrisy Than Before. Racism Has Gone Back Underground.

Yes, I'm Religious. God Has Shown Me Things, Made Certain Ways Clear To Me.

That's Insanity. We Must Be Good All The Time.

You Don't Get To Be Old Bein' No Fool.

Now They're Calling Taking Drugs An Epidemic - That's Cos White Folks Are Doing It.

You Can Have A Film And Have 200 White People Working On It, And Nobody Finds Anything Wrong With That. But If You Insist On Having A Black Crew, All Of A Sudden There's Something Wrong.

There's A Thin Line Between To Laugh With And To Laugh At.

I'm Not Addicted To Cocaine. I Just Like The Way It Smells.

He's Just Always Positive. He's Always Smiling And He's Always Trying.

I Went Through Every Phone Book In Africa, And I Didn't Find One God Damned Pryor!

If I Ain't Horny, I Check To See If My Heart's Beatin'.

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You Have To Have Lived Some Life. You've Got To Have Paid Some Dues.

I'd Like To Make You Laugh For About Ten Minutes Though I'm Gonna Be On For An Hour.

Movies Are Movies, And I Don't Think Any Of Them Are Going To Hurt The Moral Fiber Of America And All That Nonsense.

There's Nothing Worse Than Being An Aging Young Person.

Booty Is Just A Ghetto Expression, And I'm Just A Booty Star.

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So After Another You I Ran Off To My Very Own Piece Of Paradise, My Home In Hana.

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Freebase? What's Free About It?

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All Humor Is Rooted In Pain.

I Think About Dying. I've Come To Realize We All Die Alone In One Way Or Another.

I Believe In The Institution Of Marriage, And I Intend To Keep Trying Till I Get It Right.

Crosses Only Scare Vampires Away Because They're Allergic To Bullshit.

When You're Running Down The Street On Fire, People Get Out Of Your Way!

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I Was A Loner And Never Hung Out With Anyone. I Never Had Any Friends.

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I'm Slower And Some Days Are Better Than Others, But I'm A Fighter.

I Ain't No Movie Star, Man. I'm A Booty Star.

I Don't Want Them Hip White People Coming Up To Me And Calling Me No N - - Or Telling Me N - - Jokes. I Don't Like It.

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Most People That You Talk To, They's Intelligent. Like I Said, "most People."

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I Love Show Business. I Wake Up Every Morning And Kiss It.

The Ms Really Started Going Downhill In 1990.

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.

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Everyone Carries Around His Own Monsters.

I Know That If I Wasn't Scared, Something's Wrong, Because The Thrill Is What's Scary.

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