Eddie Murphy Quotes

You might have seen a housefly, maybe even a superfly, but I bet you ain't never seen a donkey fly! Ha, ha!

Every bad decision I've made has been based on money. I grew up in the projects and you don't turn down money there. You take it, because you never know when it's all going to end. I made Cop III because they offered me $15 million. That $15 million was worth having Roger Ebert's thumb up my ass.

I will blow your face clean off your face!

The other day I got out the shower and I bend down to reach for a towel, and I felt a sharp pain in my chest. Shot through my chest and up around my shoulder and down my spine. I thought 'Oh, Lord.' I thought I was dying. I bent over and looked, and I was standing on my own titty.

All men are sculptors, constantly chipping away the unwanted parts of their lives, trying to create their idea of their masterpiece.

Anything you have to acquire a taste for was not meant to be eaten.

The advice I would give to someone is to not take anyone’s advice.

You can't let the good things people say make you feel too good, because you're going to let the bad things make you feel bad.

If you're an artist like a really, really long time, it stops being a performance. I'm not performing anymore. I reveal myself to the audience... I show you some of me. It's not a show no more.

How can you do the moonwalk and ask a woman to dance? Hey baby lets dance... cya later!

That's my idol, Elvis Presley. If you went to my house, you'd see pictures all over of Elvis. He's just the greatest entertainer that ever lived. And I think it's because he had such presence. When Elvis walked into a room, Elvis Presley was in the f***ing room. I don't give a f*** who was in the room with him, Bogart, Marilyn Monroe.

I've always had confidence. It came because I have lots of initiative. I wanted to make something of myself.

When I'm doing stand-up, it's just me depending on me. I know how to go out there and make people laugh. I've been doing it since I was a teenager. I trust my instincts. I just go out and talk. A lot of the time I let the material come from the top of my head.

The best way you hurt rich people is by turning them into poor people

I started out as an impressionist and that’s all about observing, how people move, their voice quality, their attitudes and quirks.

I'm just a man. I think people are reacting to something else when they see me. They're not reacting to me, Eddie Murphy. They don't even know me. It's just luck and the God in me they're reacting to.

White boys always get the Oscar. It's a known fact. Did I ever get a nomination? No! You know why? Cause I hadn't played any of them slave roles, and get my ass whipped. That's how you get the nomination. A black dude who plays a slave that gets his ass whipped gets the nomination, a white guy who plays an idiot gets the Oscar. That's what I need, I need to play a retarded slave, then I'll get the Oscar.

I haven't read a newspaper in 20 years. I don't look at the computer or anything. You have to have a filter on what you let in.

Seventy-five years. That's how much time you get if you're lucky. Seventy-five years. Seventy-five winters, seventy-five springtimes, seventy-five summers, and seventy-five autumns. When you look at it like that, it's not a lot of time, is it? Don't waste them. Get your head out of the rat race and forget about the superficial things that pre-occupy your existence and get back to what's important now.

I want a woman who can arouse my intellect as well as my loins.

All inspiration comes from a higher power. The body is a shell. The creative spot is from God - You hear voices, everybody does. When you get older, you refer to it as intuition.

Flowers are the fastest way to a woman's heart. Well, actually, the fastest way is through her rib cage, but flowers are a lot less messy.

I took my portrait that Kaufman did of me home from the Saturday Night Live TV set.

There's always been a lot of negative stuff written about me. That's why I don't pay any attention to the critics. They've never liked anything I've done. What do critics know? It's the way the audience reacts that matters.

I only want to do what I really want to do; otherwise, I'm content to sit here and play my guitar all day.

I've made 30 movies and for the most part my movies work. In a business where success is an exception and not the rule, I've mostly been successful.

The thing about kids is that they express emotion. They don't hold back. If they want to cry, they cry, and if they are in a good mood, they're in a good mood.

I'd like to produce, direct, write, score, and star in a film in exactly the way Chaplin did. I'll do that before I'm thirty.

I spent my 30s fixing everything I broke in my 20s.

The welfare of our children is our main concern, and their best interests are our first priority.

From the very beginning, I always tried to make dialogue flow comfortably; I always did that to make it seem more authentic.

In the original script, my character was a basketball player rather than a boxer. I didn't think I could pull that off. I'm a little short to be a basketball player!

The competitions are as much a part of the tradition as the actual dances.

I have enough of a sense to know what works for me and what doesn't, without going into some big thing and analyzing what I do. I'm in a position that allows me to do what I want to do, and I do it.

It is as big a mistake to turn down a good shot as it is to take a bad one

If I don't die in a plane crash or something, this country has a rare opportunity to watch a great talent grow.

Every bad decision I've made has been based on money.

Making a movie is a collaborative effort and sometimes all the ingredients don't work out. I know that every now and again I am going to make a movie that won't work.

Whenever I am on camera or doing anything on mic, I don't have any process at all. I just do it and, when I'm finished, it goes away. There is no process. I wish there were some techniques to it. I just turn it on and off, and then I go home.

That's my idol, Elvis Presley. If you went to my house, you'd see pictures all over of Elvis. He's just the greatest entertainer that ever lived.

The economy in Ireland has been rampaging ahead for the last 15 years. Barring an international, political or natural catastrophe, things can only get better for the Irish.

My wife ain't gonna make love to me if I got no money!

I don't think there's ever been someone with as much presence as Elvis Presley, I mean if he walked into a room I think everyone would be looking at only him. Even when he was dying and through all that when you looked at him it seemed all put together. It fascinates me.

How can music without any words make you think? I listen to jazz when I'm doing something else. I use it for background music, I don't just sit down and concentrate on it. Lyrics, words - that's what makes me think.

Mick Jagger's lips' so big, black people be going, "You got some big-ass lips!"

I'm in a position that allows me to do what I want to do, and I do it.

Stevie Wonder is a musical genius !

I started out as a stand-up comedian. And that's what I'm most comfortable doing.

When I go back to the stage, I want to be able to do everything. I want to be able to do music and comedy and all that stuff and have a show like nobody ever had before.

I'm in a whole different part of show business. I'm not even part of Shakespeare in Love.