Richard Pryor, born on December 1, 1940, in Peoria, Illinois and died on December 10, 2005, in Los Angeles, California, was a renowned American comedian and actor prominent in the 1970s and ’80s.
His comedy skits, characterized by raw emotional honesty, often spotlighted downtrodden urban figures.
Starting in clubs in the 1960s, Pryor, an African American, crafted controversial, race-focused humor.
His influence is evident in later comedians. His movie roles, like “Lady Sings the Blues” (1972) and “Silver Streak” (1976), brought significant box-office success.
He produced concert films, such as “Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip” (1982) and starred in the autobiographical “Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling” in 1986.
He clinched five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums and earned an Emmy for “Lily” (1973) and a Writers Guild Award for “Blazing Saddles” (1974).
Despite struggling with drug issues and being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, Pryor was honored with the Mark Twain Prize in 1998. He authored an autobiography in 1995.
I have curated the best quotes by Richard Pryor.
Best Richard Pryor Quotes
I believe in divine forces and energies. ~ Richard Pryor.
Who you gonna believe-me or your lying eyes? ~ Richard Pryor.
I was a loner and never hung out with anyone. I never had any friends. ~ Richard Pryor.
I’m slower and some days are better than others, but I’m a fighter. ~ Richard Pryor.
I don’t want to go through life as a Wonder Wheel murderer! ~ Richard Pryor.
If I ain’t horny, I check to see if my heart’s beatin’. ~ Richard Pryor.
I know that if I wasn’t scared, something’s wrong, because the thrill is what’s scary. ~ Richard Pryor.
There’s a lot more hypocrisy than before. Racism has gone back underground. ~ 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.
You have to have lived some life. You’ve got to have paid some dues. ~ Richard Pryor.
Popular Richard Pryor Quotes
He’s just always positive. He’s always smiling and he’s always trying. ~ Richard Pryor.
It’s been a struggle for me because I had a chance to be white and refused. ~ 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.
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.
I’m not addicted to cocaine. I just like the way it smells. ~ 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.
When you’re running down the street on fire, people get out of your way! ~ 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.
I love show business. I wake up every morning and kiss it. ~ 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.
Top Richard Pryor Quotes
The MS really started going downhill in 1990. ~ Richard Pryor.
I became a performer because it was what I enjoyed doing. ~ Richard Pryor.
I wanna grow up and be a critic. ~ Richard Pryor.
When you ain’t got no money, you gotta get an attitude. ~ Richard Pryor.
I ain’t no movie star, man. I’m a booty star. ~ Richard Pryor.
Now they’re calling taking drugs an epidemic – that’s cos white folks are doing it. ~ Richard Pryor.
All humor is rooted in pain. ~ Richard Pryor.
When I was young I used to think my people didn’t like me. Because they used to send me to the store for bread and then they’d move. ~ 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.
The only person scarier than God was my mother. ~ Richard Pryor.
Famous Richard Pryor Quotes
I went through every phone book in Africa, and I didn’t find one god damned Pryor! ~ Richard Pryor.
There’s nothing worse than being an aging young person. ~ 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.
I’m not for integration and I’m not against it. ~ 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.
The reason people use a crucifix against vampires is because vampires are allergic to bullshit. ~ Richard Pryor.
I urge you to ask yourself just how honorable it is to preside over the abuse and suffering of animals. ~ Richard Pryor.
Yes, I’m religious. God has shown me things, made certain ways clear to me. ~ Richard Pryor.
I had to stop drinkin, cuz I got tired of waking up in my car driving ninety. ~ Richard Pryor.
There’s a thin line between to laugh with and to laugh at. ~ Richard Pryor.
Funny Richard Pryor Quotes
I think about dying. I’ve come to realize we all die alone in one way or another. ~ Richard Pryor.
That’s insanity. We must be good all the time. ~ 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.
Booty is just a ghetto expression, and I’m just a booty star. ~ Richard Pryor.
What I’m saying might be profane, but it’s also profound. ~ 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.
I believe in the institution of marriage, and I intend to keep trying till I get it right. ~ Richard Pryor.
Freebase? What’s free about it? ~ Richard Pryor.
I never met anybody who said when they were a kid, I wanna grow up and be a critic. ~ 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.
Hilarious Richard Pryor Quotes
Everyone carries around his own monsters. ~ 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.
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.
My grandmother used to discipline me, I mean, beat my ass, and I deserved them, too. ~ Richard Pryor.
What I am for is justice for everyone, just like it says in the Constitution. ~ 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.
If you ask me about women’s lib, I say I don’t even know what that is. ~ 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.
Funniest Richard Pryor Quotes
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.
So after Another You I ran off to my very own piece of paradise, my home in Hana. ~ 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.
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 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.
Friends take up time, and I didn’t have time. ~ Richard Pryor.
Marriage is really tough because you have to deal with feelings… and lawyers. ~ Richard Pryor.
Humorous 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 don’t see myself getting married again, but if I do, it will be forever. ~ 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 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 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.
Most people that you talk to, they’s intelligent. Like I said, Most people. ~ Richard Pryor.”
Unfortunately, the show’s success comes at the expense of its biggest asset – the comedians themselves. ~ Richard Pryor.
I’d like to make you laugh for about ten minutes though I’m gonna be on for an hour. ~ 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.
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.
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.
So these were the 80 top Richard Pryor quotes and sayings on life, love and success.
If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other posts on Jerry Seinfeld quotes and Lucille Ball quotes.
