Quotes By Dave Chappelle

You know, be able to do something great in your life, you're gonna have to realize your failures. You're gonna have to embrace them and figure out how to overcome it.

The world can't tell you who you are. You've just got to figure out who you are and be there, for better or worse.

I'm an introspective dude.

Because I was surrounded by so much negativity at some point that it took me going back and doing stand-up to realize, you know, people really like me.

If I can make a teacher's salary doing comedy, I think that's better than being a teacher.

I care about the work I do. But I'm not going to say that money's not an issue.

I got real important relationships in my life that are very empowering relationships.

The only thing harder than leaving show business is coming back.

America, I appreciate you liking me.

I just always loved stand-up. It's like magic. You say something, and a whole room full of people laughs together. Say something else, they laugh again. The fact that people come to see that and participate in that... I don't know, it's just like magic.

Being famous is great, it's not like bad or horrible or anything.

People don't know what it's like standing up there onstage, when you have a wall of people smiling at you.

I enjoy my own thoughts sometimes.

There's something about doing stand-up that's cathartic.

Most of the people around me have a vested interest in how much money I make. You know, so a celebrity could find themselves in a position where people could have meetings about their life without them involved. And when I say 'their life' I mean not their professional life either. They could talk about their personal life.

The worst thing to call somebody is crazy. It's dismissive.

Whether it means having a show, or a movie, or just being on a stage, I need an avenue to say what I have to say.

I love my jokes.

I don't care if I ever work in TV again.

Fame for me is like a place, a country I'm taking a tour through.

I've done 10 or 11 pilots for network television, which is ridiculous.

One of the things that happens when people make the leap from a certain amount of money to tens of millions of dollars is that the people around you dramatically change.

I've been a comedian since I was fourteen. But I've never really been a CEO.

I want to tell my jokes. I want to have time with my children. I want to entertain people. And at one point, I'll walk away from show business. But I don't want to walk away empty-handed.

I love being famous - it's phenomenal.

My wife asked me once if I weren't a comedian what I would do. I couldn't answer the question. I never imagined doing anything else.

You can't get unfamous. You can get infamous but you can't get unfamous.

I get a little heated when I talk about the past. But I wanted to be clear - I'm not mad at anybody - not anymore.

My father told me 'Name your price in the beginning. If it ever gets more expensive than the price you name, get out of there.'

Stand-up is the kind of gig that'll show you where you're at.