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CNN anchor Anderson Cooper's thoughts about life in the media.
By Tamara Sanon — Written on May 29, 2020
One of my favorite American journalists is Anderson Cooper. I grew up watching him on CNN as a kid. These days Cooper isn’t just busy anchoring on Anderson Cooper 360° or 60 Minutes — he is a first-time dad to a baby boy named Wyatt Morgan Cooper.
In a time of such great loss and confusion in our nation, it is great to see a news station share some good news — and some of the Anderson Cooper quotes listed below are just a few of the encouraging and enlightening things he's spoken about on TV.
Nowadays all you see on the news are stories about the coronavirus pandemic, which can get very disheartening. As we mourn the lives losses from COVID-19 and other tragedies, we can’t forget to find a reason to smile, even in the midst of a global pandemic.
Whether you are a supporter of LGBTQ rights or not, you can’t deny that Anderson Cooper, son of Gloria Vanderbilt and Wyatt Emory Cooper, has uncovered a lot of truths as a journalist. Cooper has risked his life reporting from “war zones and natural disasters” in third world countries, never afraid to chase stories that need to be heard. It is clear that Cooper has a passion for storytelling and as a viewer, you can tell.
More importantly, he does his best to accurately present the facts. Anderson Cooper is not telling you his version of a story, he’s reporting on what the story actually is. It’s all about the facts. Cooper, who graduated from Yale before the start of his journalism career, doesn't even hesitate to call out the president of the United States, Donald Trump, on his inaccuracies in recent months.
In the era of fake news, it can be difficult to know who to trust. News stations and journalists are seldom a hundred percent nonpartisan and try as they might, there will always be unconscious bias. This is why we need journalists who are not afraid to inform us and tell the stories for what they truly are, and who do what's needed to search for truth and facts.
Look below for some of the best Anderson Cooper quotes about the media, life, reporting and staying true to yourself.
1. Just be yourself.
“I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it.” ― Anderson Cooper
2. When you've experienced loss yourself, it's easier to understand what others are going through.
“Anyone who has experienced a certain amount of loss in their life has empathy for those who have experienced loss.” ― Anderson Cooper
3. Change comes from action.
“Hope is not a plan.”― Anderson Cooper
4. Your life is your own business.
“In a perfect world, I don't think it [one's orientation] is anyone else's business, but I do think there is value in standing up and being counted.”― Anderson Cooper
5. Don’t deny fear, work to get through it.
“I don't like anything that scares me, and I prefer to face it head-on and get over it. Anyone who says they're not scared is a fool, a liar, or both. I just don't want that fear in my stomach to be part of my life, so I work to eliminate it.” ― Anderson Cooper
6. Nothing lasts forever.
“The rainbow comes and goes. Enjoy it while it lasts. Don't be surprised by its departure, and rejoice when it returns.”― Anderson Cooper
7. Be proud of who you are.
“The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn't be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.” ― Anderson Cooper
8. Opt to look at things with different perspectives.
“Whatever problem you have with someone, project yourself into the other person, and see it from their point of view.” ― Anderson Cooper
9. The quest for money can easily become never-ending.
“Money gives you independence; but when you start chasing it, it is never enough.”― Anderson Cooper
10. At times it’s more important to be kind than clever.
“Someone recently said to me that it is easier to be clever than it is to be kind, and I think that is very true. So I add to my list of regrets the times I have not been kind, choosing instead to be clever, usually at someone else’s expense.”― Anderson Cooper
11. Anderson Cooper never forgets where he came from.
“The money I inherited never belonged to me.” ― Anderson Cooper
12. Seek out experiences to be able to live life to the fullest.
“Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to leave yourself open to experience, open to looking, and seeing and responding. Life is a long process of seeking; we seek meaning in the world around us and we seek the truth of ourselves. Don’t be afraid to look at things anew, to leave the door open, or to open it yourself. “ ― Anderson Cooper
13. Be kind, because we are all facing battles.
“You may not be able to see the battle others are fighting, and you may believe they are confident and have never known sadness or fear, but believe me, they have, so be kind. Take”― Anderson Cooper
14. Embrace your past.
“Not to sound too Dr. Phil all of a sudden, but I think the key to survival is to embrace one's past and to not run away from it. And to come to some sort of relationship with it or understanding of it.” ― Anderson Cooper
15. Love should be never-ending.
“I love you in ways that are infinite and as in eternity have no beginning or end.”― Anderson Cooper
16. Don’t forget to let your parents know who you are as an .
“When my mom turned 91, I wanted to use the time that we have left in our lives to get to know each other as adults.” ― Anderson Cooper
17. Embrace being an outsider.
“If you feel like an outsider, you tend to observe things a lot more.” ― Anderson Cooper
18. Satisfaction does not come from acquiring more, it’s a state of being.
“There is no amount of MORE that can ever satisfy.”― Anderson Cooper
19. It’s never too late to fix relationships.
“Never too late to change your relationship with somebody in your life. “ ― Anderson Cooper
20. Don’t worry about pleasing everyone.
“Trying to please everyone all the time never works. It leads to hating oneself and then hating oneself, even more, when one later tries to assert one’s authority. ” ― Anderson Cooper
21. The lack of something is what motivates you to seek more.
“From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some, like, pot of gold waiting for me, I don't know that I would have been so motivated.” ― Anderson Cooper
22. Cherish your health while you still have it.
“Health is your most treasured gift. As long as you have it, you are independent, master of yourself. Illness grabs the soul. You plunge in and out of hope, fearing you will never recover. All that I have been, all that I am, all that I might become no longer exist. I am alone. Nothing can distract from the truth of this finality. ” ― Anderson Cooper
23. It's smart to be careful.
“I don't think I'm fearless at all. I think anybody who says they're fearless doesn't last very long. I think I'm pretty cautious, actually.” ― Anderson Cooper
24. Just like adults, the thoughts and ideas of children deserve respect.
“From the time we were little, you treated us as if our ideas mattered. You and Daddy encouraged us to form our own opinions and listened when we expressed them. We were not just children in your eyes; we were people who deserved respect. That was a powerful lesson.”― Anderson Cooper
25. Don’t worry about tomorrow, focus on today.
“Stop this dwelling on fantasy tragedies and disasters occurring unexpectedly. It is time wasted and leads to a dead-end, such pursuits sap and waste energy. You tend to worry much too much over bad things occurring, events that may never happen.― Anderson Cooper
26. There’s always room for improvement.
“I still feel like I'm learning a lot and have a lot to learn and improve on.” ― Anderson Cooper
27. Go for it and ask for forgiveness later.
“I rarely ask people for advice or permission when I'm planning on doing something I feel strongly about. That only opens the plan up to be crapped on.” ― Anderson Cooper
28. Joy and pain are essential parts of life.
“ Life holds joy and it holds pain, and each of us experiences both. The knowing of joy and the knowing of pain are both teachers and essential parts of the living process. Without either, there is no life.” ― Anderson Cooper
29. You must continue to move forward in spite of all the pain.
“I don’t know that it’s the healthiest way to live but it’s absolutely the core of what I believe I need to do...I remember learning that sharks have to keep moving forward to stay alive. It’s the only way they can force water through their gills to breathe...I imagine myself living that way...I worry that if I become too self-reflective, too mired in the pain of the past,..I’ll no longer be able to function. I’ll no longer be able to breathe...I worry that I’ve shut myself off to feeling and numbed myself so I’m not weighed down. I don’t want to be numb but it’s hard to move forward constantly and to feel at the same time.”― Anderson Cooper
30. The road map to success looks different for everyone.
“When I was younger, I talked to the adults around me that I respected most about how they got where they were, and none of them plotted a course they could have predicted, so it seemed a waste of time to plan too long-term. Since then, I've always gone on my instincts.” ― Anderson Cooper
31. Authenticity is a requirement of the job.
“I tend to relate more to people on television who are just themselves, for good or for bad, than I do to someone who I believe is putting on some sort of persona. The anchorman on 'The Simpsons' is a reasonable facsimile of some anchors who have that problem. “ ― Anderson Cooper
32. Accept yourself for who you are.
“I am boring. I'm fine with boring.“ ― Anderson Cooper
33. Take a risk by creating your own path.
“It was important to me and, I think, important to my parents that I be on my own and figure things out on my own and kind of forge my own path, and I'm really grateful for that.“ ― Anderson Cooper
34. See things for what they are, not what you want.
“Be honest about what you see, get out of the way and let the story reveal itself “ ― Anderson Cooper
35. When horrific things happen, go against your instincts and help.
“There are some things which are so horrific that some people feel they can't do anything about it: that the natural, understandable response is to tune it out. ― Anderson Cooper
36. It's easy to forget the person behind the persona.
“A lot of people know the name Gloria Vanderbilt, but they don't really know the whole story behind her, the real person that she is.“ ― Anderson Cooper
37. Don’t allow your life to be ruled by fear.
“I don't believe in letting fear dictate what you do, but that doesn't mean you don't feel afraid or frightened. I think it's normal and healthy to be afraid in situations.” ― Anderson Cooper
38. Asking questions never truly stop.
“To me, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. “― Anderson Cooper
39. Justice is about proving guilt, not innocence.
“It's not your client's obligation, or your obligation, to prove your client's innocence. It is the prosecution's obligation to -- to prove you're client's guilt.” ― Anderson Cooper
40. Don’t allow your position or status to get to your head.
“The world reacts very strangely to people they see on TV, and I can begin to understand how anchor monsters are made. If you're not careful, you can become used to being treated as though you're special and begin to expect it. For a reporter, that's the kiss of death.” ― Anderson Cooper
41. Anderson Cooper chases the stories that need to be heard.
“These people deserve to have the world watching what is happening to them. “― Anderson Cooper
42. Extremes happen at the beginning of change.
“Just as there were excesses at the beginning -- the early feminists tried to rule out a lot of the and frivolity and, you know, they demonized Barbie and Cosmo girl in high heels and shopping and a lot of the fun stuff women like -- at the end, you know, they are equally sort of into conformity, but completely the opposite way.” ― Anderson Cooper
43. Celebrate new life and love, even in times of loss.
“It is, I think, especially important in these times of trouble to try to hold on to moments of joy and moments of happiness. Even as we mourn the loss of loved ones, we are also blessed with new life and new love.” ― Anderson Cooper
44. Talk to different people to get different perspectives.
“Anytime you stop and talk to somebody and you learn about them, you start to walk in their shoes a little bit and you see things through a different lens.” ― Anderson Cooper
45. Your vote is your choice, no matter who you are.
“I've always believed that who a reporter votes for, what religion they are, who they love, should not be something they have to discuss publicly.” ― Anderson Cooper
46. If you don’t know what you want to do, figure out what you don’t want to do.
“Learning what you don't want to do is the next best thing to figuring out what you want to do.”― Anderson Cooper
47. There is value in actually seeing things take place.
“I've always loved reporting from the field most of all. There's something about doing live TV and being there as it happens that's always appealed to me. I think there's great value to bearing witness to these events as they're actually happening.” ― Anderson Cooper
48. People watch CNN cover stories with minimal bias.
“When a big event happens, people turn on to CNN, not only because they know there will be people there covering an event on the ground, but because they know we're going to cover it in a way that's non-partisan, that's not left or right.” ― Anderson Cooper
49. Good books surprise you at every turn.
“The mark of a good book is it changes every time you read it.” ― Anderson Cooper
50. Popularity fades and eventually who you really are shows true.
“I went to a high school reunion a couple of years ago and realized that the kids who were the most unusual in high school are the ones who are the most interesting now and the ones who were popular are dull and boring.” ― Anderson Cooper
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Tamara Sanon is a writer who covers astrology, spirituality, love, and relationship topics.