Cheech Marin Quotes & Sayings

Hey, I was raised in the church. I was an altar boy and a choir member. I almost became a priest - until common sense grabbed hold of me. — Cheech Marin

As much as I loved Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Junior Gilliam, and Don Newcombe, I loved watching Willie Mays play more than all of them combined, even if he played for the 'bad guys!' — Cheech Marin

To me, you have to declare yourself a Chicano in order to be a Chicano. That makes a Chicano a Mexican-American with a defiant political attitude that centers on his or her right to self-definition. I'm a Chicano because I say I am. — Cheech Marin

I liked Jackie Robinson because he was cool to watch, not because he was black. Every time you turned around, he was hitting a triple or making a great play in the field or, best of all, stealing home. — Cheech Marin

We are a multicultural country - always have been, and to our credit, always will be. It is something that we should be very proud of and embrace. — Cheech Marin

My interest in art must have started with my Catholic upbringing. Art was everywhere: churches with its paintings, sculptures, stained glass, textiles, and fine metalwork. — Cheech Marin

To do a comedy team, it requires so much extracurricular stuff, so much compromise, so much intuitiveness to know what the other guy is doing. That's why it's so hard to do it. — Cheech Marin

There are some Chicanos who don't want to be Chicanos - they want to be Mexican-American, Hispanic, or even Spanish. — Cheech Marin

I think you can directly link chihuahuas to Dow Jones. — Cheech Marin

In the end, the great leveler in any sport is performance on the field or on the court. Kids don't care what language players speak or if they eat tacos, rice, or sauerkraut. They don't care if they're white, black, or brown. — Cheech Marin

At the end of the day, it not only doesn't make logical sense to deny licenses to undocumented immigrants, it doesn't make financial sense. — Cheech Marin

Don't ever insult a Chicano about being a Chicano because then all the other Chicanos will be on you with a vengeance. They will even fight each to be first in line to support you. — Cheech Marin

Our first gig was a battle of the bands. We did 45 minutes of comedy and never played a note - and we won! — Cheech Marin

You have to want to be Chicano to be Chicano. — Cheech Marin

Hey, I was raised in the church. — Cheech Marin

I wouldn't want them [kids] to raid my liquor cabinet and glug down my bourbon either. — Cheech Marin

Whether it's from the biggest, most powerful city, or from the dinkiest little podunk town, there is a certain attachment and connection, and yes, pride about where you came from. — Cheech Marin

What I look for when I see a piece of art for the first time is some kind of emotional, intellectual experience, that's a combination of both of those things and is informed by my knowledge and something new that I see the artist doing. — Cheech Marin

I was an altar boy and a choir member. — Cheech Marin

So what's really behind the 'English Only' Movement? Fear. Fear of being taken over and one day they will have to learn something different. Heaven forbid they would have to learn something new. — Cheech Marin

For the most part, people are proud of the place from which they come. — Cheech Marin

Just about every Latin American country has sent players to the big leagues, from the Dominican Republic to Costa Rica. — Cheech Marin

Every medium has its own projection, and I find animation is much bigger than normal. — Cheech Marin

As a kid, I used to go to the library and take out all the art books. — Cheech Marin

It always trips me out that America, the most powerful and magnificent nation in the history of the world, whose might was built by immigrants from all over the world, only speaks one language. — Cheech Marin

I grew up half in South Central and half in the San Fernando valley. — Cheech Marin

Convenience is the American way. — Cheech Marin

Yeah, I'm the go-to guy for Mexican priests. — Cheech Marin

When I lived in Paris in the early '80s, I had the occasion to hang out with Prince Albert of Monaco quite a few times. — Cheech Marin

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, my wife speaks five languages: Russian, English, French, Italian and, out of self-defense, Spanish. I watched her learn Spanish in three months. — Cheech Marin

I'm the go-to guy for Mexican priests. I'm the new Barry Fitzgerald, except with a Mexican accent. — Cheech Marin

Loyalty and communication are always rewarded in sports. — Cheech Marin

I lived in an all-black neighborhood, followed by an all-white one, and other kids in the always called me Mexican in both neighborhoods. — Cheech Marin

I want my kids to grow up to be a useful citizen. — Cheech Marin

My marriage was breaking up, and my marriage with Chong was breaking up. I had to come back and kind of start on my own again. — Cheech Marin

Chicanos and running water are endlessly fascinating. I can watch them all day. — Cheech Marin

You know you're in a bad movie when the Catholic clergy is being played by Jews. — Cheech Marin

We did six records, then six movies. Now we need to do six of something else, so we get 666 - and then our master Satan can return! — Cheech Marin

By the time I discovered Chicano painters in the mid-'80s, I recognized that these guys were really world-class painters, but they weren't getting any attention, which was good in one sense in that I could get their work for cheaper! — Cheech Marin

It is surprising how many professional athletes, along with their families and friends, are gaga over movie and music stars, and the reverse is true with entertainers and sports stars. — Cheech Marin

If there is one phrase or action that every person on the planet would like to erase from his or her memory or have the chance to undo, it would be, 'Let's do it again.' — Cheech Marin

Mexicans are quasi-legal. — Cheech Marin

Being a Chicano in Hollywood, my experience is that you're not given credit for any sophistication ... You're just kind of some guy that just crossed the border, you know, on the back of a truck and that's it. — Cheech Marin

Rich white guys. That's the true minority. — Cheech Marin

You can always tell when something is good, because the studio senses it has something good, and you can see them pour more and more resources into it. The promotion gets bigger and bigger. — Cheech Marin

I've never seen a NASCAR race; I've seen an Indianapolis 500 race. — Cheech Marin

My first car was a '56 Ford station wagon - cost 100 bucks. — Cheech Marin

I drive an S80 Volvo; it's one of those real flashy cars. No, I just like it because I like a nice, cush ride; the Volvo is really cush, and it's powerful and fast. — Cheech Marin

Growing up in Southern California, it's all car culture. When I was a kid, I knew every single model of every single car dealer; I knew every style of every year. — Cheech Marin

I was part of the draft resistance movement in L.A. where we did demonstrations at the draft centre and burned our cards and made a lot of trouble on campus. I had a student classification and they said that anybody who'd taken part in these demonstrations would be reclassified and drafted. And that's when I went to Canada. — Cheech Marin

People didn't relate to me as being Chinese or white, just being a hippie, a long-haired hippie. — Cheech Marin

The reason we're so dangerous is because we're totally harmless. — Cheech Marin

The word 'Chicano' was originally a derisive term from Mexicans to other Mexicans living in the United States. — Cheech Marin

I'm old enough to make my own decisions. — Cheech Marin

Well, sometimes you need the fields to lie fallow in order to gain nutrients. — Cheech Marin

I guess one of the ways that karma works is that it finds out what you are most afraid of and then makes that happen eventually. — Cheech Marin

I always wanted to work with Betty White, because she is one of my heroes of all time, and I just love her. — Cheech Marin

I was interested in a lot of subjects from very early on. And that's uniquely Chicano because every Chicano I knew always had three jobs. — Cheech Marin

Every kid that goes to Catholic school believes he's going to be a priest one day. — Cheech Marin

One of the great things about a celebrity pro-am is that you get to play along with the very best professional golfers in the world. — Cheech Marin

Of all the plays in baseball, stealing home is by far the most exciting. — Cheech Marin

Comedy teams are a real hard thing to do. That's why you don't see any of them. — Cheech Marin

The very first time I got to drive by myself, I took a bunch of my friends to school and was caught by a motorcycle cop going 90 miles an hour on a back street. — Cheech Marin

I love voice work. — Cheech Marin

I've always wanted to be able to say that I come from Los Angeles, California and feel quintessentially American - even if I said that in Spanish. — Cheech Marin

I guess what really made me a Dodgers fan from the beginning was that the team had Jackie Robinson, the first 'Negro' in the major leagues. — Cheech Marin