57 Hilarious Dave Chappelle Quotes To Loosen Up

While we preach often about pushing hard to achieve success, there are times we need to pause, reflect, loosen up and have a genuine laugh. That’s where comedians such as Dave Chappelle are simply fire!

His stand-up performances have left audiences gasping for breath over the years. He was undoubtedly the class clown in school and has done comedy ever since while also staring in some comedy movies such as Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

We’ve compiled this list of quotes from many sources so you can lighten up your day. Enjoy!

1. You got to be careful of the company you keep.

Dave Chappelle

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

Dave Chappelle

3. The hardest thing to do is to be true to yourself, especially when everybody is watching.

Dave Chappelle

4. You can become famous but you can’t become unfamous. You can become infamous but not unfamous.

Dave Chappelle

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

Dave Chappelle

6. 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

7. Every black American is bilingual. All of them. We speak street vernacular and we speak ‘job interview.’

Dave Chappelle

8. Constantly take inventory of what’s important to you.

Dave Chappelle

9. All white people talk about when they get high is other times that they got high.

Dave Chappelle

10. 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

11. No matter how old you are, if a little kid hands you a toy phone… you answer it.

Dave Chappelle

12. I enjoy my own thoughts sometimes.

Dave Chappelle

13. 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

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

Dave Chappelle

15. I think every group of black guys should have at least one white guy in it.

Dave Chappelle

16. 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

17. What did the 5 fingers say to the face? S L A P!”

Dave Chappelle

18. 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

19. Hey hey hey, smoke weed every day.

Dave Chappelle

20. 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

21. 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

22. I’m cool with failing so long as I know that there are people around me that love me unconditionally.

Dave Chappelle

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

Dave Chappelle

24. Once you been performing on the streets you can conquer any venue.

Dave Chappelle

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. After a while, a joke, if you say it too much, just becomes contrived, or fake-sounding.

Dave Chappelle

31. 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

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

Dave Chappelle

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. I think extreme sports are really good for relieving stress.

Dave Chappelle

38. 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

39. There’s something about doing stand-up that’s cathartic.

Dave Chappelle

40. 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

41. Dave! Relax! Close your buttcheeks!

Dave Chappelle

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

Dave Chappelle

43. Chivalry is dead. Women killed it.

Dave Chappelle

44. 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

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

Dave Chappelle

46. 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

47. Money is the fuel for choices. Money gives me choices, so it’s not nothing, it’s something…

Dave Chappelle

48. My generation is under-entertained.

Dave Chappelle

49. 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

50. Where I’m from? A little town called none of yo god damn business.

Dave Chappelle

51. 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

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

Dave Chappelle

53. The mark of greatness is when everything before you is obsolete, and everything after you bear your mark.

Dave Chappelle

54. I love being famous – it’s phenomenal.

Dave Chappelle

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

Dave Chappelle

56. 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

57. he only way you can know where the line is is if you cross it.

Dave Chappelle