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. These Richard Pryor quotes will motivate you.
Best Richard Pryor Quotes
- “A lie is profanity. A lie is the worst thing in the world. Art is the ability, to tell the truth.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “I’m not addicted to cocaine. I just like the way it smells.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “Two things people throughout history have had in common are hatred and humor. I am proud that I have been able to use humor to lessen people’s hatred.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “The reason people use a crucifix against vampires is because vampires are allergic to bullshit.” ~ 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
- “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
- “I had to stop drinking, cuz I got tired of waking up in my car driving ninety.” ~ Richard Pryor
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“All humor is rooted in pain.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “What I’m saying might be profane, but it’s also profound.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “There’s nothing worse than being an aging young person.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “Now they’re calling taking drugs an epidemic – that’s cos white folks are doing it.” ~ 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
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“When you’re running down the street on fire, people get out of your way!” ~ Richard Pryor
- “I’m for human lib, the liberation of all people, not just black people or female people or gay people.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “Who you gonna believe-me or your lying eyes?” ~ 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 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
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“You don’t get to be old bein’ no fool.” ~ 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 see people as the nucleus of a great idea that hasn’t come to be yet.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “Everyone carries around his own monsters.” ~ 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
- “Marriage is really tough because you have to deal with feelings… and lawyers.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “I never met anybody who said when they were a kid, I wanna grow up and be a critic.” ~ Richard Pryor
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“If I ain’t horny, I check to see if my heart’s beatin’.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “Why get killed when you can run … your ego will heal much faster than a broken jaw.” ~ 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
- “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
- “It’s been a struggle for me because I had a chance to be white and refused.” ~ Richard Pryor
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“There’s a thin line between to laugh with and to laugh at.” ~ 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
- “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
- “Crosses only scare vampires away because they’re allergic to bullshit.” ~ Richard Pryor Quotes
- “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 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
- “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
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“You have to have lived some life. You’ve got to have paid some dues.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “I’m slower and some days are better than others, but I’m a fighter.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “The way I see it, the earth is going to be hereafter 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
- “Most people that you talk to, they’re intelligent. Like I said, “Most people.”” ~ Richard Pryor
- “When you ain’t got no money, you gotta get an attitude.” ~ 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
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“Friends take up time, and I didn’t have time.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “There’s a lot more hypocrisy than before. Racism has gone back underground.” ~ 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 think about dying. I’ve come to realize we all die alone in one way or another.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “What I am for is justice for everyone, just like it says in the Constitution.” ~ 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
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“Yes, I’m religious. God has shown me things, made certain ways clear to me.” ~ 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
- “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
- “There are only two pieces of pussy you’re gonna get in your entire life, that’s your first and your last.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “I was a loner and never hung out with anyone. I never had any friends.” ~ Richard Pryor
- “My grandmother used to discipline me, I mean, beat my ass, and I deserved them, too.” ~ 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
- “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
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“That’s insanity. We must be good all the time.” ~ 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
- “I went through every phone book in Africa, and I didn’t find one god damned Pryor!” ~ 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
- “I love show business. I wake up every morning and kiss it.” ~ 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
- “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
- “I’m not for integration and I’m not against it.” ~ Richard Pryor
