Cheech Marin

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

“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.”

“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.”

“My first car was a '56 Ford station wagon - cost 100 bucks.”

“You have to want to be Chicano to be Chicano.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“The word 'Chicano' was originally a derisive term from Mexicans to other Mexicans living in the United States.”

“Well, sometimes you need the fields to lie fallow in order to gain nutrients.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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.”