Even when I was a little kid, I always said I would be in the movies one day, and damned if I didn’t make it.

The line frames Pryor’s later stardom as the fulfillment of an early, almost stubbornly held self-prophecy. It captures a recurring Pryor theme: self-invention against rough beginnings, told in the blunt, profane cadence that made his comedy feel like unfiltered autobiography. The quote also reflects a show-business narrative of destiny and grit—wanting something as a child, stating it aloud, and then forcing reality to match the claim. The punch of “damned if I didn’t” turns aspiration into a defiant victory lap, implying that success was not luck so much as willpower, persistence, and refusal to accept a smaller life.