Quote

It was rough being dark. I got heat from my own people more than anyone else. I remember going to my mom and saying, 'Why am I so black?' And she said, 'Because I'm black. You just gotta always work harder than the average bear.'

Bernie Mac

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Bernie Mac
Age: 50 †
Born: 1957
Born: October 5
Died: 2008
Died: August 9
Film Actor
Screenwriter
Stand-Up Comedian
Street Artist
Television Actor
Television Producer
Chicago
Illinois
Work
Harder
Always
Saying
Gotta
People
Dark
Rough
Anyone
Heat
Black
Bear
Else
Mom
Remember
Average
Going
Bears

More quotes by Bernie Mac

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I became the storyteller of South Side Chicago. I used an old Kiwi liquid shoe polish as a microphone. I'd go around the house interviewing everybody, telling stupid jokes, doing voices. I mimicked Sidney Poitier, Sammy Davis Jr., people on 'Laugh-In,' Flip Wilson.
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Stand-up is what I am stand-up is what made me.
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I'm very much disciplined because I'm more mature. When I was young I just wanted to live, I could jump, I could run, I was quick and I was relentless.
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I want people to say at the end of my day, you know, like I used to say about Sidney Poitier and James Cagney and Joan Crawford and Red Skelton and those guys and Bill Cosby. They did quality and substance. You always remember them.
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When I get a chance to play golf or go on a boat with good people, take the boat out and put some lobsters on the grill, get the ice-cold beer and the cigars - that's heaven here on earth.
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I'm not a star, and I don't want to be a star. Stars fall. I'm an ordinary guy with an extraordinary job.
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I'm not a star, I hate that word, and I'm an entertainer. Stars fall, you know, I'm an entertainer. I want to be known as an entertainer.
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You can't change what happened. Just like you can't change the future by worrying about it. You just have to keep moving.
Bernie Mac
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I learned hard lessons in life I had to because I had so much happen: My mother died my sophomore year in high school. The next year, same day, my brother dropped dead. Two years after that, I got married because my girlfriend got pregnant. The year after my wedding, my father - who I had only recently met - died.
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I don't need to pat myself on the back until my arm breaks. I don't need any of that.
Bernie Mac
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I ain't running for office. I ain't running for nothing.
Bernie Mac
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Whatever you hear at the barber shop, stays at the barber shop.
Bernie Mac
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They say if you don't have your health you ain't got nothing, but the truth is you ain't got nothing if you don't have no one to worry about your health.
Bernie Mac
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You know, every time it comes, every time that light comes on or every time that camera comes on, every time that microphone comes on, the Mac Man seek and destroy.
Bernie Mac
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My family are police officers, detectives. My brother Mitch is FBI. Mitch is like that - a stern enforcer.
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Whatever success I've had, I always like to top it.
Bernie Mac
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My comedy comes from pain. I can't stand to see someone hurting.
Bernie Mac
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I can act. I've been acting for a long time, but like anything else, don't nobody owe you nothing. You've go to pay your dues. You go from A to Z you don't go from M to Z.
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I get facials. I get a manicure and pedicure every week. I get my hair cut, and I oil myself down from head to toe. I got that from my brother. I was so impressed with how high maintenance he was. When he left the room, you could still smell him for an hour.
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I'm looking for laughs, you know? If it take me to flip over a table, if I have to go physical comedy, I will do it. But whatever the joke needs at that particular time, is where I'm dedicated to. I'm not into beating somebody down and beating myself up. I don't do insults and things like that. I don't do it - I'm a storyteller.
Bernie Mac