25 Lenny Bruce Quotes from the Comedy Icon

By Stephanie Kirby | Published July 1, 2023

Expand your knowledge of the legendary comedian with these Lenny Bruce quotes.

Bruce was a stand-up comedian, an actor, and a social critic who was ranked 3rd on the list of all-time comedians by Rolling Stone Magazine in 2017.

Lenny Bruce was the stage name of Leonard Alfred Schneider, who was born in Mineola, New York, in 1925 and died of a drug overdose in Los Angeles, California, in 1966.

He was well known for his critical and open style of comedy that contained satire, politics, sex, and more.

His desire to push the boundaries got him convicted of obscenity in 1964, but he received a posthumous pardon in 2003.

Read these Lenny Bruce Quotes for a few minutes to learn more about the famous comedian.

Lenny Bruce Quotes About Comedy and More

Check out some of Lenny Bruce’s most hilarious quotes.

1. “Life is a four-letter word.” — Lenny Bruce

2. “Miami Beach is where neon goes to die.” — Lenny Bruce

3. “I’m not a political comedian; I’m a social comedian.” — Lenny Bruce

4. “When you’re eight years old, nothing is your business.” — Lenny Bruce

5. “The cost of living is going up, and the chance of living is going down.” — Lenny Bruce

6. “If you can take the hot lead enema, then you can cast the first stone.” — Lenny Bruce

7. “Part of the kick of making people laugh was doing something different.” — Lenny Bruce

8. “The liberals can understand everything but people who don’t understand them.” — Lenny Bruce

9. “I hate small towns because once you’ve seen the cannon in the park, there’s nothing else to do.” — Lenny Bruce

10. “The role of a comedian is to make the audience laugh, at a minimum of once every fifteen seconds.” — Lenny Bruce

Sarcastic Lenny Bruce Quotes

Here are some of Lenny Bruce’s most sarcastic quotes.

11. “I won’t say ours was a tough school, but we had our own coroner. We used to write essays like ‘What I’m going to be if I grow up.’” — Lenny Bruce

12. “I’m not a comedian. And I’m not sick. The world is sick, and I’m the doctor. I’m a surgeon with a scalpel for false values.” — Lenny Bruce

13. “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.” — Lenny Bruce

14. “The ‘what should be’ never did exist, but people keep trying to live up to it. There is no ‘what should be,’ there is only what is.” — Lenny Bruce

15. “Once the country was settled and built, the bosses changed the order from a stack of educated workers to a barrel of minimum wage lottery dreamers.” — Lenny Bruce

16. “To say whatever nonsense comes into your head without any repercussions has got to be a bigger higher than heckling a movie screen in a darkened theater.” — Lenny Bruce

17. “All my humor is based on destruction and despair. If the whole world were tranquil, without disease and violence, I’d be standing in the breadline – right in back of J. Edgar Hoover.” — Lenny Bruce

The Best Lenny Bruce Quotes

Take a look at some of the best Lenny Bruce quotes.

18. “Satire is tragedy plus time.” — Lenny Bruce

19. “I’m not a comedian; I’m Lenny Bruce.” — Lenny Bruce

20. “I don’t have an act. I just talk. I’m just Lenny Bruce.” — Lenny Bruce

21. “I am influenced by every second of my waking hour.” — Lenny Bruce

22. “I believe in free speech, but I also believe in good manners.” — Lenny Bruce

23. “The reason I don’t smoke pot is because it facilitates ideas and heightens sensations. And I don’t need any more of that.” — Lenny Bruce

24. “When earth gets good and crowded, like 15th-century England, then some new Pilgrims are gonna rocket their Mayflower to a new solar system.” — Lenny Bruce

25. “The only honest art form is laughter, comedy. You can’t fake it…try to fake three laughs in an hour – ha ha ha ha ha – they’ll take you away, man. You can’t.” — Lenny Bruce