Quotes By Dave Chappelle

The way the people around you position themselves around you to get in your pockets and in your mind is infuriating to me.

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

You know you must be doing something right if old people like you.

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

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.

I got a lot of positive people around me.

You can become famous but you can't become unfamous. You can become infamous but not unfamous.

The higher up I went, the less happy I was.

I'm famous today. People like me today. Might not like me tomorrow. You can't count on it.

I still think people do have racial hang-ups, but I think one of the reasons I can joke about it is people are shedding those racial hatreds.

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.

The language you are about to hear... is disturbing.

My generation is under-entertained.

Everyone around me says, You're a genius! You're great! That's your voice! But I'm not sure if they're right.

There's a lot of people who don't want anything from me but to laugh and have a good time. You see them at the show and they like - they dress up to come see your show and stuff. And they pack these auditoriums and it's a lot of fun, man. It's like, this is how I started, and it's still fun for me.

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.

When I'm on stage, I get real happy there. Maybe that's the only time in my adult life I feel like myself.

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.

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.

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.

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 felt in a lot of instances I was deliberately being put through stress because when you're a guy who generates money, people have a vested interested in controlling you.