Now Albert Einstein had a quote. He said “Imagination is everything. It’s the preview to life’s
coming attractions.” This is important information. The biggest thing that always troubled me
was my imagination. 'Cause it was so big when I was a kid, you know, I grew up poor, but
I was always imagining stuff. You know, my mama, once a month, would buy a travel magazine
at the grocery store. My father used be so pissed off. "Bill, why we spending this money?
"We ain't got --" We were poor. She said, "Slick, we ain't got no money to take this
boy nowhere."But if he can look in these magazines, "maybe one day it'll cause him to wanna travel."
I been to so many countries around the world 'cause of that magazine. I just wanted to
go see stuff. My mama had enough sense to plant that seed in me. It's like at Christmas
time, we used to get in the car and my daddy used to take us to the suburbs so we could
see the lights. And, you know, we just drove around the lights and I was amazed at the
suburbs 'cause I would see these big houses with horseshoe driveways where you drove in
and came out the other side. So I told my daddy one time, we’re riding, I said, "Daddy,
why don't we get one of them houses?" He said, "Boy, I ain't got no money for that "but that's
what I'm bringing you out here for." He said, "One day, you'll be able "to get one of them
houses." Let me explain something to you. Because of that right there, I've probably
had in my lifetime now about 11 homes. I got four now in different states. Every house
I own got a horseshoe driveway on it. When they was living, they told me one time, they
were sitting up watching TV, my daddy looked at my mom and said, "Bill." He called my mama
Bill. He said, "Can you believe "that this little boy we had on TV?" She said, "Slick,
I can't believe this." I used to send my daddy $5,000 a week. You know, when I first got
on TV, I was making $55,000 a week so I sent my mom and him $5,000 a week. When I got into
Kings of Comedy, my father was still living. I showed my daddy one time how much money
I made. He said, "Boy, it'd take me four years "to make this kinda money." So I was able
to give them something with my life. So before my mama and them left this world, I could
give 'em something. I bought 'em everything, man: houses, cars, furniture. I bought 'em
everything I could think. I tried. And you know what's crazy, man? I'm 62 years old.
I still want them be proud of me. I still hope that they in heaven watching me. And
they see me turn into somebody. That's all I ever wanted. It was in my imagination to
take care of them. You just gotta believe that. You just gotta believe, man. Don't ever
give up. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
All faith is really, the substance of it is just what you hope for. That's all faith is,
it's just real hard hoping. Remember when you was little and you'd say "I hope I get
a bike for Christmas"? And you went out there one year and the bike was under the tree?
You remember when you said you hoped you'd graduate? And you messed around and got a
diploma? Then you remember when you said you hoped you'd get a job? And you messed around
and you got a job? Huh? At one point in time the older you get this got to start clicking
in, that faith is really the substance of things hoped for. That if you hoped hard enough
one day you ought to get smart and turn all that hoping into belief. And what is belief?
Nothing but faith. And what is faith? Faith is the belief in things that you cannot see.
See this what the part you gotta get. The evidence of things not seen. Remember I told
you that imagination is everything? It's the preview to life's coming attractions? Now
let me tell you the problem with your imagination. The problem with your imagination is you tell
it to the wrong people. If you want to kill a big dream tell it to a small minded person.
You went and you shared it with you family and friends. And you know what they did? They
shot it down. You know why they shot it down? Cause they couldn't see it. See your mom and
them, your cousin them, your friends, they don't know. See you got to be careful when
you share your imagination with small minded people. Nobody else can see your imagination
but you.