It was an unwritten law that black comics were not permitted to work white nightclubs. You could sing and you could dance, but you couldn't stand flat-footed and talk; that was a no-no.

If all you can do is judge a person by their appearance, because you don't have the spirit to judge someone from within, you're in trouble.

Black folks tell their kids they have to be twice as good as a white person? Well, if I tell a child of mine that, or that they have to be careful - that this is what a cop would do if you do this - they think something is wrong with them. I tell them death is better.

What happens to Black Folks today, happens to White Folks tomorrow.

Some kind of way, we have to say enough is enough.

Education means to bring out wisdom. Indoctrination means to push in knowledge.

Every holiday on the calendar, I check in a hotel and fast - I don't eat, I don't drink, I don't talk.