When you have a good mother and no father, God kind of sits in. It's not enough, but it helps.

Just being a Negro doesn't qualify you to understand the race situation any more than being sick makes you an expert on medicine.

America has the mightiest military on the planet, and they didn't get there with entertainers.

If you can justify killing to eat meat, you can justify the conditions of the ghetto. I cannot justify either one.

To me, seeing a really great comedian is a bit like watching a musician or a poet.

Luck is opportunity meeting up with preparation. So you must prepare yourself to be lucky.

The only thing I like about St. Louis is it has the best zoo in America, in Forest Park. Washington University is next door to the zoo. Animals get out, they're going to eat white people before they get to the ghetto!