Eddie Murphy Quotations

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!

I don't think more concentration is required for Robert De Niro to do what he does as for Jim Carrey to do what he does.

I'm relaxed about my career. I've been making movies for over 20 years, so I've earned at least the right to relax.

I keep telling people I'll make movies until I'm fifty and then I'll go and do something else. I'm going to be a professional gentleman of leisure.

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

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.

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

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

If you're involved in with something that's original, you know, you'll always go back and try to rehash it.

There's this little box that African-American actors have to work in, in the first place, and I was able to rise above that box. I could have done a bunch of movies where I stayed as the Axel Foley or Reggie Hammond persona. But I didn't want to be doing the same thing all the time. Every now and then, you crash and burn, but that's part of it.

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.

Growing up, I liked all the stuff that everyone else was listening to, like Motown, but the biggest group of all was The Beatles.

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

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

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.

I leave my house all the time! But I'm not at all the Hollywood parties. I'm grown, and where else am I supposed to be? I'm supposed to be home.

I'm the artist when I'm doing music that I am when I'm acting. I'm everything.

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

If you have a flop movie, so what? And if you have a hit movie, it's 'so what,' too - it's on to the next movie.

My first concert makes me sound like a real old man. My very first concert was Jackie Wilson.

I'm 42 and the age of a guy who has kids, so I guess I'm playing right where I'm supposed to be. I'm comfortable with that, but in the same breath I'd do something edgy. If someone came to me and offered me an edgy and funny story, then I'd do it.

After all these years, I've done well and I'm cool. I feel comfortable in my skin, I've saved some paper, everybody's healthy, my kids are beautiful and smart, doing different things, it's all good.

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.

Apparently every man was told to bring three women with them. Sounds like a ho-down.

This is how you answer a door in my neighborhood. WHO IS IT?

We want the same effect as if someone's house burned here. We want to give them a normal life as soon as possible.

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

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 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.

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

The white man gets all the best catchphrases!

In a movie like this, the relationship between the two guys is crucial. It sinks or swims on how these two guys are together. I think we did a good job.

Theres this little box that African-American actors have to work in, in the first place, and I was able to rise above that box. I could have done a bunch of movies where I stayed as the Axel Foley or Reggie Hammond persona. But I didnt want to be doing the same thing all the time. Every now and then, you crash and burn, but thats part of it.

I been seeing newspapers every Sunday morning, white dudes be in there in their drawers, never having no bulge in they drawers. Smiling at you. If I ain't have no bulge, I wouldn't be smiling!

This is a regional fair that attracts people from the surrounding counties and from further distances. The fair draws people from as far away as Albert Lea, Owatonna and the Twin Cities.

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

I trip off it. You know what's interesting about the makeup is when you get up close and you know he's been working on your face, and you see where the makeup starts and it stops, and how seamless it is. You could look at it for hours.

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.

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

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.

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

I just voted for Jesse Jackson !

I can figure out which Spice Girl I wanna impregnate.

I’m a comedian who got into movies, so I don’t really think of myself as an actor.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

My life is nothing like the Daddy Day Care life. Me around the house is nothing like the Daddy Day Care dad.

You know you can't just run and shoot people in the knee-caps with double barreled shotgun 'cause you're pissed at them.

Over the past 50 years Bob Hope employed 88 joke writers who supplied him with more than one million gags, and he still couldn't make me laugh.

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 am a man who has never tied his own shoes before!

Stevie Wonder is a musical genius !

Is it just me, or does every woman in New York have a severe emotional problem?

I ain't never been in no cell that had a phone in it. Can I stay for a while? I ordered some pizza.

The only reason I did Showtime was Robert De Niro. I definitely consider him to be in the top 5 all time actors.

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.

Are You Driving With Your Eyes Open? Or Are You like Using The Force?

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

Making movies is time-consuming and it's boring. You spend most of your time waiting between takes. It's like a big machine that moves slowly.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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!

My life is nothing like the "Daddy Day Care" life. Me around the house is nothing like the "Daddy Day Care" dad.

My girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time...

He gives a tremendous amount of time to clients and is completely focused on each of their careers. He's very hands-on, ... He's always been a straight-up guy in any business dealings. They're not poachers, and they don't home in on other people's clients.

I think 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.

We want the same effect as if someone's house burned here, ... We want to give them a normal life as soon as possible.

We need to be prepared to help with their rent and utilities for six months to a year, ... We don't want them working right now.

Ultimately, 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; that's what all this stuff is leading to.

Right now, we've got to stretch that dollar as far as we can.

There was a lot of stuff where we were doing scenes, and (we would) bust out laughing, ... more on this movie than ever, where you can't finish scenes. I hope we didn't (mess up) up the movie.

That's a new thing for me, to have my costar in a scene turn to me and tell me they love me. In "48 HRS.", Nick Nolte never turned to me and went "I love you Ed"!

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

You know, 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.