What price would God demand from the churches for having the audacity to lighten the color of his son's skin, and straighten out his nappy hair?

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!

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.

Wouldn't it be a helluva joke if all this were really burnt cork and you people were being tolerant for nuthin'?

I wouldn't mind paying taxes... if I knew they were going to a friendly country

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

When I went south in the 1960s, I knew I could die. If I went down there and did what I did up in Chicago and made all of those hatin' white folks laugh, then I would have been defeated.