Shane Smith Quotes

My life, like most people's, has been negatively affected by cancer, and the thought of my young children living in an age where this is no longer humanity's No. 1 health fear was simply overpowering.

I thought I was a pretty good writer, but I didn't have anything to write about. I wanted to go out in the world, have some adventures and then write about them.

I think if you look at the failure of journalism in the modern age, then I don't want to be called a journalist.

It's our job to get into the hardest-to-see places and bring back the best footage - we have the best footage of North Korea ever shot. If that's a stunt, then I'll keep on doing stunts until I die.

If you look not just at the Arab spring, but at what I call the youth spring that has started in Europe, young people are starting to find a voice, and they are not looking to the traditional media to reflect that.

The greatest propaganda coup of the American right has been to convince its citizens that we are in the grip of a liberal conspiracy.

The human race is facing all kinds of problems, and all we are doing is pointing fingers and saying, 'Your interpretation of the problem is different from my interpretations of the problem.

I came to America from Canada because Canada is stultifyingly boring and incredibly hypocritical.

When you're 18, 19, you want to live fast and leave a beautiful corpse behind.

Once you have a certain amount of money, it ceases to be an issue. I'd rather put my cultural imprint on the fabric of life. After money, all you want is immortality.

Every generation has a changing of the guard in media. We do the same stuff that everybody else does, but we just do it differently. We do our content online differently. We do our magazines differently. We do our TV differently. We never had anyone tell us how to do magazines, so we just developed it in a different way.

There are only two companies in the world that can help me. That's Facebook and Google, because they are going to make me the largest digital network in the world, which is my goal.

I always used to say that I wanted to be the next MTV, the next ESPN, the next CNN rolled up into one, and everyone would laugh at me. But now I think that people are finally wising up because, digitally, you can do that.

Everyone told me, "Don't ever talk about international stuff," and "Don't do long-form content online," and "Don't get too serious in news," and "Don't be too heavy" - all this stuff, all the rules. But we broke the rules, and that, ironically, has led to some of our most successful stuff.

I woke up. I was like, "Look, you can do anything you want - and you want a lot of things, so you should get to work."

Success. Money. Fame. Whatever you're going after. You have one kick at the can, I always say. It's very rare that you have many kicks at the can. You're there at the right place at the right time, you have your shot, and it either works or it doesn't. And I've had many shots.

If you go to Jamaica, you're going to these all-inclusive resorts where they're playing calypso and a bit of reggae or whatever. But if you go to Kingston, it's run-and-gun battles in the streets, it's abject poverty, it's incredible violence - and then also the best parties in the world. But if you're white, you can't really go. I'd rather know the real deal than be playing in the sand.

I'm addicted to when people are bringing you around their country, telling you their stories. They become so enthusiastic, so passionate.

I was getting mad at the system or the politicians or the government, and then I realized someone should talk about this stuff, and I have a big, multinational global-youth platform of kids who are going to change the world. So I was like, "I should be doing that. I should be showing this to people. That's my job." And since that time, I've been very happy.

American media has just become talk radio, incredibly partisan name-calling and op-eds.

I am a human being. I am not an actor.

People think because 'Vice' is irreverent and because we're crazy, we're stunt journalists. You know what? I don't actually care.

I don't care if I die - look, I'm old - but you want your kids to have good times and a good life. I became sort of aware. I used to get so angry.

All I know is that when I go somewhere, I'm not an autobot. I am a human being. I am not an actor.

Sometimes we ask ourselves 'Why?' Why do I continue to smile, to give, to live? Why do I continue to stand, despite the ferocity of the wind that keeps blowing, that keeps slapping against my face, creating a pressure that says 'fall'? Why I don't I listen to those who call me a fool because I continue to love despite my hurt? I don't know what tomorrow brings; I don't know if my troubles will seize or if my sorrows will continue. But this much I do know - I will continue to hold out, I will continue to press on, until my blessing comes.

I stand here empty, waiting to b filled. I stand here weary of days bombarded with sorrows & ill. Yet, I STAND. For I know it is not of my strength; I know it is not my will. So with my eyes fixed on the prize and a rejoicing soul, I stand with a prayerful heart, waiting for my blessing. I stand, knowing my blessing will com.

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Omaha is a game that was invented by a sadist and is played by masochists.

When I was a child, I acted like child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

I want to be like Tom Freston. Tom just flies around everywhere, gets to make movies, gets to start TV shows, hang out with cool people and do whatever he wants.

If you're coming from America to Iraq, then how are you supposed to be objective? I mean, you could pay lip service to being objective, but how are you going to objective when you're embedded with the Marines? The Marines are saving your life every day and they're protecting you.

I don't care if I die - look, I'm old - but you want your kids to have good times and a good life.

If you're coming from America to Iraq, then how are you supposed to be objective? I mean, you could pay lip service to being objective, but how are you going to objective when you're embedded with the Marines? The Marines are saving your life every day and they're protecting you. But when you're sort of living with people who are there, we just press record and let them tell the story.

You have to be dynamic. You have to be able to change. So a lot of times we'll go to a country or go meet people, and then while we're there, the story changes and you have to be able to go with that. And then the story comes out in the editing room, which is a very documentary sort of process - not how news works. So that's different.

Andrew Creighton, who ran Europe for us and who now runs the company day-to-day, would always go to the people he would hire and say, "Look, I don't know what it is, but whatever this guy says comes true because he's got some sort of weird self-fulfilling-prophecy thing." And that's exactly right. The reason I was so bombastic or whatever was because you have to believe it.

I don't go to bars and stuff like I used to, but I live each day to make something.

Look, I've had four kicks at the can. You've had a tremendous career. We're also happy. We've loved. We've lived. We don't starve. We haven't been shot in the gut. So at that point, I started getting a little more serious about the content we were making and the business and building the business. I also became more serious about life and being happy. I got married, I have kids - I'm happy at a cellular level now.

You have to make those mistakes. You have to do the work. You have to fail. I also realized that I should practice what I preach, which is that if you only do get one kick at the can . . . When you go to places like Africa or Asia or the Indian sub-continent, you realize that a lot of the people there don't ever get a kick at the can. There are no "kicks" at the can - you just don't have that shot.

I mean, we shoot differently, we cut differently, our stories are different . . . I'd say that every single thing is different except for the fact that you watch it on a TV or a computer or a phone, just like you do with everybody else's content.

I'm sure everybody looked at me cockeyed. But if you don't believe it, then it's not going to happen. If you don't believe it, no one else is going to believe it. But if you believe it and keep saying it, then slowly one person will believe you, then two, then three, then four . . .