Bill Cosby Quotes About Life and Success

William Henry “Bill” Cosby, Jr. (born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and author. A veteran of stand-up comedy, Cosby was one of the most popular comedians in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1969, Cosby created and produced the sitcom The Bill Cosby Show for NBC. The show aired for two seasons. In 1984, Cosby starred in the television film The Cosby Show: A Look Back, which aired on NBC. The show was based on his sitcom. In this blog post, we have shared the most famous Bill Cosby quotes.

bill cosby quotes funny

During the 1960s, Cosby began his career as a stand-up comic at the hungry I nightclub in San Francisco. Throughout the decade, he released several standup comedy records, earning him the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album on each occasion from 1965 to 1970. He also co-starred with Robert Culp in the television crime series I Spy (1965-1968).

In 1966, Cosby became the first African American to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the first African American to do so. His acting career continued as he starred in the two-season sitcom The Bill Cosby Show from 1969 to 1971.

49. Bill Cosby Quotes

1. “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. ”

2. “Nothing I’ve ever done has given me more joys and rewards than being a father to my children.” 

3. “Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing.”

4. “Human beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come back home.”

5. “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

6. “Nothing separates the generations more than music. By the time a child is eight or nine, he has developed a passion for his own music that is even stronger than his passions for procrastination and weird clothes.”

7. “I am certainly not an authority on love because there are no authorities on love, just those who’ve had luck with it and those who haven’t.”

8. “People can be more forgiving than you can imagine. But you have to forgive yourself. Let go of what’s bitter and move on.”

9. “You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.”

10. “Decide that you want it more than you’re afraid of it”

bill cosby inspirational quotes

Bill Cosby Quotes About Life

11. “If you want to be seen, stand up. If you want to be heard, speak up. If you want to be appreciated, shut up.” 

12. “The very first law in advertising is to avoid the concrete promise and cultivate the delightfully vague.”

13. “Those who criticize our generation forget who raised it.”

14. “Mediocre people are the most dangerous people in the world.”

15. “Fathers are the geniuses of the house because only a person as intelligent as we could fake such stupidity.”

16. “Sex education may be a good idea in the schools, but I don’t believe the kids should be given homework.” 

17. “You can teach an old dog new tricks. You just don’t want to see the dog doing them.”

18. “The past is a ghost, the future a dream and all we ever have is now.”

19. “Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.”

20. “It isn’t a matter of black is beautiful as much as it is white is not all that’s beautiful. ”

inspirational quotes by bill cosby

Famous Bill Cosby Quotes

21. “A word to the wise ain’t necessary, it’s the stupid ones who need advice.”

22. “We cannot afford to settle for being just average; we must learn as much as we can to be the best that we can. The keyword is education – education with maximum effort. Without it, we cannot be in charge of ourselves or anyone else.”

23. “The main goal of the future is to stop violence. The world is addicted to it.”

24. “No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I’m not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal.”

25. “Give me 200 active 2-year-olds and I could conquer the world.” 

26. “Having a child is surely the most beautifully irrational act that two people in love can commit.”

27. “Romance is a different word than sexual contact.” 

28. “The heart of marriage is memories; and if the two of you happen to have the same ones and can savor your reruns, then your marriage is a gift from the gods.”

29. “You can’t compete with Walmart. But you can have smaller businesses that are successful.” 

30. “Women don’t want to hear what you think. Women want to hear what they think – in a deeper voice.”

Inspirational Bill Cosby Quotes

31. “The only thing that you can get into without a lot of trouble is a lot of trouble.”

32. “Never forget that the devil is there 24/7 too. He’s very, very busy.” 

33. “When you graduate from college, they tell you to follow your dreams. Does anyone say you have to wake up first?”

34. “Sometimes you try to help people, and it backfires on you, and then they try to take advantage of you.” 

35. “The past is a ghost, the future is a dream, and all we ever have is now.”

36. “The game of chess. Supposedly men made it up, and it’s about war and men and the ravages and the bravery and the genius of commanding and moving pieces and … No. It’s marriage. The Queen moves anywhere she wants.”

37. “The essence of childhood, of course, is play, which my friends and I did endlessly on streets that we reluctantly shared with traffic.”

38. “Take your bottom lip and pull it over your head.” 

39. “Let us now set forth one of the fundamental truths about marriage: the wife is in charge.”

40. “All parents experience the same problems.” 

41. “The three ingredients of a successful union between two … humor, commitment & undying love.” 

42. “Parents are not really interested in justice. They just want quiet.”

43. “The worst thing to do is to die while reading LIFE magazine.”

44. “You can never give complete authority and overall power to anyone until trust can be proven.”

45. “There is hope for the future because God has a sense of humor and we are funny to God.”

46. “If you know what you want, you will recognize it when you see it.”

47. “You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can fi nd humor in anything.

48. “Intellectuals are people who go to study things other people do naturally.” 

49. “The Internet is like Hitler they think they are getting rid of the problem but they’re not”

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