Quotes

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.

If you're Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, and your marriage is breaking up - that's an awful thing. But to see that speculation in people, it's gotta sting a little bit.

"I figured, let me just cut myself off from everybody, take a minute and pull a Flintstone, stop a speeding car by using my bare feet as brakes." - on his abrupt departure from Chappelle's Show (2003).

I look at it like that word, 'nigger', used to be a word of oppression. But that when I say it, it feels more like an act of freedom. For me to be able to say that unapologetically on television.

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

I don't normally talk about my religion publicly because I don't want people to associate me and my flaws with this beautiful thing. And I believe it is beautiful if you learn it the right way.

[on living in Ohio] Turns out you don't need $50 million to live around these parts, just a nice smile and a kind way about you. You guys are the best neighbors ever... That's why I came back and that's why I'm staying.

[on Chappelle's Show (2003)] I have to say, it was by far the best experience I ever had working in television. When you hear me say, like, 'I quit' and all this stuff, I mean, that was literally just like the tension and the dramatic situation of creating something. And the network executives have their responsibilities and I have my responsibilities, so this is a natural tension of these relationships. By far, it was better than any situation I ever had in corporate television.

[on Chappelle's Show (2003)] It was like taking somebody on a tour through a young black man's subconscious, and I don't think America has been there. So in a way it was kind of like reality TV, right?

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.

[on turning down a $50 million contract from Comedy Central to make a fourth season of Chappelle's Show, jokingly about his spouse] Don't think you can turn down a 50 million contract and your wife is going to be cool with that.

[on media speculation on why he went to Africa] Who goes from America to Africa for medical treatment? It was the most irresponsible journalism I've ever seen.

Gender is a fact. Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth. This is a fact. It doesn't change.