“The Bernie Mac Show’ is my life. It’s the truth, and I’m not ashamed of a minute, an hour, or a second of my life.”

You know you poor when you eatin’ breakfast food late. You fryin’ toast? At nine o’clock at night? With bacon? You’re broke.

Hugs aren’t like pieces of pie. Plenty of hugs to go around.

My humor had changed from foolishness to making sense.

You’re never going to see me playing a buffoon.

I think a lot of TV insults the audience.

I can act. I’ve been acting for a long time, but like anything else, don’t nobody owe you nothing. You’ve go to pay your dues. You go from A to Z; you don’t go from M to Z.

I was a street performer for two years.

I’m not afraid to fail. Sometimes when you lose, you win. Sometimes when you win, you lose.

You can’t change what happened. Just like you can’t change the future by worrying about it. You just have to keep moving.

Bernie Mac just says what you think but are afraid to say.

It took me a long time to get to where I’m at, in my career and as a man. I was going through my trials and tribulations in life, and it gave me the strength to tackle things that have come my way.

Why I was so intrigued with Red Skelton was because he was able to make you cry and laugh and the same time. That was power.

I had to do clubs where street gangs were, had to do motorcycle gangs, gay balls and things of that nature.

I’m not ashamed to tell the truth about what happened in my family. I think that’s what makes my comedy different.

Stand-up is what I am; stand-up is what made me.

I love who I am. I love what I’ve become.