The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits

monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 1012 hertz and that has a radiant
intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian.

A Lumen is a quantity of light, the same kind of unit as a watt, but measured in
such a way that takes into account the sensitivity of the eye. If you are looking at
the specification of a light source Lumens are the measured as the entire output,
no matter which direction the light is going in.
A Lux is a lumen per square meter, which we might call illumination in street
jive, but illuminance in sci.optics talk. It is how much light that falls on a surface.
A Nit is a lumen per square meter per steradian, which we might call brightness to
our wives, but luminance to our peers. If a Lux of illuminance strikes a perfectly
diffusing surface it gives a Nit of luminance.
A Candela is a lumen per steradian. It is used for "point" sources so that you can
calculate how much light is cast on a surface no matter where the surface is.
Put another way, Candelas are a measure of luminous intensity
through an imaginary sphere with the light source at its center.
For an isotropic point source 1 Candela is equal to 1 lumen per
steradian. There are 4 x pi or about 12.6 steradians in a
complete sphere around the source. A 12.6 lumen isotropic
source would then produce 1 Candela. This doesn't really apply
to your typical laser but would be a close approximation to a
something like a short-arc xenon lamp. However, it is still
possible to define the Candela over a portion of a diverging
beam. So, if your laser put out 1 lumen over only .1 steradians,
its intensity in Candelas would be 10 Candelas.

Luminous Flux
(Term of photometry)
Luminous flux is photometrically weighted radiant flux (power).
At a frequency of 540 x 1012 Hertz, it defined as 1 lm/683 watts of radiant power.
As with luminous intensity, the luminous flux of light with other wavelengths can
be calculated using the CIE photometric curve.
The luminous flux is a very basic unit of measurement for light. If a uniform point
light source of 1 cd luminous intensity (about the intensity of a normal wax
candle!) is positioned at the center of a sphere of 1 m radius, then every area of
1 m2 on the inside of that sphere will receive a luminous flux of 1 lm.
(This relation also holds when using other units like 1 ft radius and 1 ft2 area.)

Since the surface area of a full sphere is 4*Pi times the square of the
radius, a uniform point light source of 1 cd produces a total 12.57 lm of
luminous flux.
Most real life light sources area not uniform though. This factor is therefore only
useful for rough estimations and will normally give inaccurate results.
Standard unit of luminous flux is Lumen (lm).