Nick Cannon quotes: reflections and lessons from the entertainer.
“You have to be vigorous. That’s the only way you are going to get it because everybody has dreams and everybody has goals, but the only people who achieve them are the ones that go after it and don’t take no for an answer.”
“Just speak yourself into existence. Whatever you want, speak it. You can see it.”
“I think it takes a strong man to be in a relationship with a strong woman. A lot of people hear the word ‘diva’ and think of it as a negative. I see it as a positive. I want somebody who knows what they want out of life and isn’t afraid to show it.”
“Nobody can predict the future. You just have to give your all to the relationship you’re in and do your best to take care of your partner, communicate and give them every last drop of love you have. I think one of the most important things in a relationship is caring for your significant other through good times and bad.”
“One thing about being a stand-up is it’s a one-man show. You gotta do everything. You’re the producer, writer, director and the actor. You just gotta be out there and perform and give your all. It’s such an honest form of art that it just taught me so much, and it kind of prepared me for manhood at an early age.”
“Most aspiring child actors or child stars have a passion for it. But as easy as it is for me to say that I wouldn’t put my kids in it, if I saw that they really, really wanted to do [it] and they had the drive, then I would fully support it. As long as there’s balance at home, then they could do whatever they wanted to do.”
“Having children obviously changes your priorities, but when you start to see life through these innocent eyes and seeing everything for the first time, you appreciate the small things.”
“I want to be there for my children. You want to make sure you’re alive more than anything.”
“Family is always first.”
“So my father was a person who never lied to me. If I had a question, he answered it. I knew a lot of things at a young age because I was intrigued.”
“When you don’t have those types of things, fashion and all that stuff, it helps you find yourself because you don’t have those things to rely on.”
“I was raised by my grandmother. She instilled everything into me. She taught me right from wrong from day one.”
“I was rapping at eight.”
“I was 16 years old, driving to LA, and sleeping in my car, just trying to make it happen.”
“It’s in my nature to be an entrepreneur. I call myself an ‘entrepretainer.’ Because I even came in the game not necessarily trying to be in front of the camera but more understanding the business. You know, in high school, I wasn’t really trying to be a rapper… I was trying to get with the record label. I was selling CDs from out the trunk of my mom’s car when I was 15. Even though I was doing stand-up when I came into the game, my first job in Hollywood for real was a staff writer.”
“To always figure out where the other checks are is what I’m focused on. And I understand music and being in front of the camera is what generates the energy but I’m trying to figure out how it works behind the scenes. So even going back and getting my degrees and the proper stuff, it’s more like ‘let me really master this business’ in a real way. I don’t necessarily want a lawyer telling me what the contract says. I want to read it and set it up the right way. I need to understand the terms in the document in why it’s written this way. And those are the things that I feel like it’s there for all of us to grab. I always say I’m trying to turn these acorns into oak trees. So you give me something small, I’ma make it big.”
“I probably made a few moves differently than most. For one, I started extremely young and so you know, it’s hard for people to take you seriously at a young age. Even though I was the youngest staff writer in television history; youngest executive producer ever; youngest television chairman and executive ever; people always still thought it was a vanity play. And even the approach that I took to be more easygoing, friendly and more homogenized—to put it in a safe term—I appealed to the masses to where I wasn’t necessarily trying to be like, ‘Oh, I’m this hip-hop dude’ or this street smart cat. Even though that’s an element of my life, I chose to be on the number one show on television that’s in 15 million homes twice a week, so there’s a certain perspective and persona that comes with that. So if you see me as a nice, friendly guy you’re not really thinking about my business mindset or all the artists that I have helped get their careers going. All the different actors and comedians that I put on. And I’m also never one to really pat myself on the back.”
“I’m a musician. I play instruments. I dabble in the hip-hop field. That doesn’t take vocal ability necessarily.”
“In the hip-hop community, it’s about how real are you, or how strong can you be, and really my music just reflects me. If you can accept me, then you can accept my music.”
“I just work. However people feel about it, I mean, at the end of the day, if I’m waiting for accolades, I could be waiting all my life, but I don’t need that stuff to validate me. I just do what makes me happy.”
“The beautiful thing about acting is that you can just dive into the character, strip yourself of everything, and just get in there and perfect your craft.”
“I always try to be optimistic, but not to the point where I’m getting on people’s nerves.”
“To be compared to Will Smith is probably one of the coolest things because that’s who I came up admiring.”
“People think that as a celebrity, you have to have this sort of mystique about you, but I’m probably the realest person you’ll ever meet.”
“I am always the first to say that fame and entertainment is one of the best and easiest occupations to ever have, but one must know how to navigate through the matrix or you may find yourself in a very dark hole.”
“Even though I am fortunate to have certain luxuries, sometimes, I am even amazed by what people with money have and do. I want to remind people that just because you might be rich and famous, it doesn’t mean you have to take yourself too seriously.”
“The popularity of being celebrities is what we asked for. I don’t think there’s ever been a time in my life where I’ve ever turned down a picture or an autograph because I’m just a people person. I love people; I love to interact with individuals, so even if I’m not in the greatest mood, I understand that the people and the fans are what make this all possible.”
“I want to affect culture. I want to have my mark on everything. What happens in the course of five years isn’t really important to me. I care about what they’ll say about me in 50 years.”
“My vocation is my vacation. I love what I do.”
“I’m not geeky but I have my geeky, corky moments, and then I’ve got some aspects of cool in me, I guess.”
“The people who truly love me and loved me before all of this stuff… you can’t ever leave them behind.”
“Don’t worry about my life, worry about why you’re worried about my life!”
“I’m already two decades strong and I feel like I’m just getting started.”
“I wake up feeling like the luckiest, most blessed man in the world.”
Related: Mimi quotes.
