Black Americans are the only people in history who are for education instead of liberation. George Washington wasn't beating up on British for the right to open a college! The line isn't "Give me education or give me death."

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.

I waited at the counter of a white restaurant for eleven years. When they finally integrated, they didn't have what I wanted.

I buy about $1,500 worth of papers every month. Not that I trust them. I'm looking for the crack in the fabric.

Because you make me laugh don't make you a comic. A comedian is a person who, that's how they make their living.

My belief is, you know, certain things have to be explained that's never been explained.

We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre.