Shane Smith: Success. Money. Fame. Whatever you're going after. You ha...

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.

Shane Smith

cancer children people

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.

Shane Smith

writing adventure world

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

Shane Smith

age looks thinking

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.

Shane Smith

korea shots jobs

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.

Shane Smith

media spring europe

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

Shane Smith

propaganda conspiracy citizens

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.

Shane Smith

broke serious successful

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

Shane Smith

live-fast want beautiful

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.

Shane Smith

different kind race

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

Shane Smith

canada boring america

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.

Shane Smith

laughing people thinking

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.

Shane Smith

fabric-of-life issues want

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.

Shane Smith

eye heart motivational

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.

Shane Smith

hurt motivational fall

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.

Shane Smith

online just-do-it different

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.

Shane Smith

tv-shows want people

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

Shane Smith

human-beings actors humans

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.

Shane Smith

google goal two

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.

Shane Smith

married serious kids

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.

Shane Smith

marine iraq mean

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.