David Khari Webber Chappelle was born August 24, 1973 in Washington, D.C., United States. Chappelle is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. His Comedy Central program, ‘Chappelle’s Show,’ became a smash hit in the early 2000s.
Dave Chappelle is the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Emmy Awards and three Grammy Awards as well as the Mark Twain Prize. Chappelle has appeared in several films, including Mel Brooks’s Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), The Nutty Professor (1996) and so many other movies.
In 2016, he signed a $20 million-per-release comedy-special deal with Netflix and, as of 2019, he has released five standup specials under the deal.
Below, you will find an array of insightful Dave Chappelle quotes about life, and funny Dave Chappelle quotes that will make you laugh out loud.
50 Famous Dave Chappelle Quotes About Life
“If you don’t have the right people around you and you’re moving at a million miles an hour, you can lose yourself.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“You got to be careful of the company you keep.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“You’ve got to say ‘yes’ to your destiny. Life’s happening right now, look around you. There goes some life. Come on, Mamma, live!” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“I support anyone’s right to be who they want to be. My question is: to what extent do I have to participate in your self-image?”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“The only way you can know where the line is, is if you cross it.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“The mark of greatness is when everything before you is obsolete, and everything after you bear your mark.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“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.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“When I’m on stage, I get real happy there. Maybe that’s the only time in my adult life I feel like myself.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“You can become famous but you can’t become unfamous. You can become infamous but not unfamous.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“Fame for me is like a place, a country I’m taking a tour through.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“Money is the fuel for choices. Money gives me choices, so it’s not nothing, it’s something…”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“If I can make a teacher’s salary doing comedy, I think that’s better than being a teacher.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“Chivalry is dead. Women killed it.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“All white people talk about when they get high is other times that they got high.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“I think every group of black guys should have at least one white guy in it.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“Weed’s not as bad as everything else… ’cause weed is a background substance. You know what I mean, you can smoke some herb and still function. You ain’t crisp… but you’ll function.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“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.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
There’s something about doing stand-up that’s cathartic– Dave Chappelle Quote
“After a while, a joke, if you say it too much, just becomes contrived, or fake-sounding.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“I enjoy my own thoughts sometimes.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“People don’t know what it’s like standing up there on stage when you have a wall of people smiling at you.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“I have all these weird fantasies. Going coast-to-coast on my motorcycle and having random barbecues all over America. No show, no nothing.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“They do what they do for money – that’s all. I don’t even know why you’re listening to me. I’ve done commercials for both Coke and Pepsi. Truth is, I can’t even taste the difference, but Pepsi paid me last, so there it is.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“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.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“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.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“The worst thing to call somebody is crazy. It’s dismissive.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“I always take a relationship to the next level. If that works out, I take it to the next level after that, until I finally reach that level when it becomes absolutely necessary for me to leave.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“Somebody broke into my house once, this is a good time to call the police, but mmmm, nope. The house was too nice. It was a really nice house, but they’d never believe I lived in it. They’d be like ‘He’s still here!” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“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.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“I love being famous – it’s phenomenal.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“I don’t want the money. I don’t want the drama. I just want to do my show. I want to have fun again.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“Sometimes you have to come out like a lion, so that you can be the lamb that you really are.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“Things like racism are institutionalized. You might not know any bigots. You feel like “well I don’t hate black people so I’m not a racist,” but you benefit from racism. Just by the merit, the color of your skin. The opportunities that you have, you’re privileged in ways that you might not even realize because you haven’t been deprived of certain things. We need to talk about these things in order for them to change.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“There are 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.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“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.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“But money is not the end-all, be-all. There are other things in my life that I did not purchase with money that are very valuable.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“Hey hey hey, smoke weed every day.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“Every black American is bilingual. All of them. We speak street vernacular and we speak ‘job interview.’”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“My own life is accessible to people still. I could see a guy walking down the street and, even though I’m famous, I got more in common with this guy than, like, Brad Pitt.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“Once you been performing on the streets you can conquer any venue.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“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.’”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“I’m cool with failing so long as I know that there are people around me that love me unconditionally.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“Everyone around me says, “You’re a genius! You’re great! That’s your voice! But I’m not sure if they’re right.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“You know you must be doing something right if old people like you.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“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.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“The hardest thing to do is to be true to yourself, especially when everybody is watching.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
“Something about New York, man: You can do more comedy there probably than you can anywhere in the world. If you’re interested in being funny, New York is the place to go.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“I’m famous today. People like me today. Might not like me tomorrow. You can’t count on it.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“Constantly take inventory of what’s important to you.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“No matter how old you are, if a little kid hands you a toy phone… you answer it.” – Dave Chappelle Quote
10 Hilarious Dave Chappelle Quotes
“Stand-up is the kind of gig that’ll show you where you’re at.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“I think extreme sports are really good for relieving stress.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“Dave! Relax! Close your but*tcheeks!”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“My generation is under-entertained.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“If someone sits and stares at you while you eat, you won’t even eat the way you normally do, because it’ll make you so uncomfortable. If I look at my dog when he’s eating, he will look at me like, “Dave, I will bite you. What are you looking at? I’m trying to eat.” It’s something that dehumanizes a person, being on display like that.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“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 facts that people come to see that and participate in that… I don’t know, it’s just like magic.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“Where I’m from? A little town called none of yo god damn business.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“The language you are about to hear… is disturbing.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“Being famous is great, it’s not like bad or horrible or anything.”– Dave Chappelle Quote
“What did the 5 fingers say to the face? S L A P!”– Dave Chappelle Quote