Truth is the baby of the world. It never gets old.
Dick GregoryRead
I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white dude would come into my neighborhood after dark.
Interpretation
The quote humorously reflects on the skepticism of a child towards the existence of Santa Claus based on societal realities.
Dick Gregory's quote highlights a child's innocent yet critical perspective on the traditional figure of Santa Claus, implying that racial and social contexts play a significant role in shaping beliefs. By suggesting that a white man would not venture into a predominantly Black neighborhood after dark, Gregory uses humor to critique societal issues related to race, safety, and trust.
In practice
In a comedy routine discussing childhood beliefs.
Truth is the baby of the world. It never gets old.
I never thought I'd see the day that I would see white folks as frightened, or more so, than black folks was during the civil rights movement when we was in Mississippi.
Just being a Negro doesn't qualify you to understand the race situation any more than being sick makes you an expert on medicine.
We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre.
Because I'm a civil rights activist, I am also an animal rights activist. Animals and humans suffer and die alike. Violence causes the same pain, the same spilling of blood, the same stench of death, the same arrogant, cruel and vicious taking of life. We shouldn't be a part of it.
We thought I was going to be a great athlete, and we were wrong, and I thought I was going to be a great entertainer, and that wasn't it either. I'm going to be an American Citizen. First class.
I try and write satire that's well-intentioned. But those intentions have to be hidden. It can't be completely clear, and that's what makes it comedy.
I'm not a man who constantly thinks up jokes. But I think it's very important to be able to see the funny side of life and its joyful dimension and not to take everything too tragically. I'd also say it's necessary for my ministry. A writer once said that angels can fly because they don't take themselves too seriously. Maybe we could also fly a bit if we didn't think we were so important.
I've always believed, in my heart of hearts, that it would be a better show if, when I crossed over to the desk, the band kept playing for an hour and I danced in a cage.
The humor is that finally when you have the power to move the mountain, you are the person who placed it there-so there the mountain stays.
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR per G.G., CHIEF OF ORDNANCE
I'm only a beer teetotaler, not a champagne teetotaler; I don't like beer.
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