Marco Pierre White
My pet hate, with customers, is those that think it's all about wallets.Collection: Pet
Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was a lad. From then on, he lived in fear that death was just around the corner, and he set about programming me to work hard and bring in some cash.Collection: Dad
My cooking attracted celebrities. I met Sylvester Stallone. He squeezed my bicep and said: 'I don't usually eat your kind of food, but for you, I ate it.' I haven't got a clue what he'd eaten but he asked me to cook for his wedding feast when he married Jennifer Flavin at Blenheim Palace.Collection: Wedding
Generally, I respect critics; they have their job to do.Collection: Respect
For me, food is about generosity, and this should reflect on the plate as well.Collection: Food
All great chefs have two things in common. First, they respect nature as the true artist, and they are just cooks. Second, everything that they do is an extension of them as a person.Collection: Nature
Self-control is true power.Collection: Power
One day, a chef moaned that he was too hot, so I took a carving knife in one hand, held his jacket with the other, and slashed it. Then I slashed his trousers. Both garments were still on his body at the time.
I can't work in a domestic kitchen; it's just too confined. There's no freedom, and there's no buzz.
I wouldn't want to be in one room, 20 hours a day, 52 weeks a year, with four white walls and a stove. I think it stunts your growth as a human being.
I leave my emotions at home.
My twenties were the worst period of my life.
I was racially discriminated against for years as a child in Leeds because I was an Italian.
I was brought up to respect my father and not to love him.
You can't be a chef and appear on television all the time. It's impossible. At least when I earned my stars, I was always behind my stove.
Food should be simple; it shouldn't be complicated, even down to making Knorr gravy: a Knorr stock cube and water, bit of parsley at the end, little bit of olive oil. It's about making the food deliciously tasty.
My children are, without question, the most wonderful thing. I've learnt more about myself through my children than any other experience in my life.
I love the countryside, which is where I live and feel most comfortable, and hate being surrounded by herds of people.
People still think I led a rock and roll lifestyle. I was in my kitchen 100 hours a week; I didn't have time to do that.
The newspapers had described me as the Jagger of the Aga. It wasn't hard living up to the reputation.
Harveys opened against the backdrop of Thatcher's greed culture.
'Wall Street' was the big movie of 1987, the year in which Harveys opened. It was a film about greed and self-indulgence, about hunger for success, and Michael Douglas's line, 'breakfast is for wimps,' became a mantra for anyone who wanted to get to the top.
I take so much from my life. I have my shooting and my fishing. I have my working life. I have my relationship with my children.
I love working. I love doing things. I don't like sitting.
I like my mind being stimulated. I like discovering new concepts.
I love the institution of marriage.
Like most fathers, I would do anything for my children, and I've worked very hard at trying to be a good father. I want to give them education, security, everything I never had.
I think it's really important for every young person to work in a kitchen because you learn a life skill.
My tortured life - with its extremes and conflicts - might have been difficult for me to deal with, but the press couldn't get enough of it. I was in the papers every day, 'the enfant terrible of the culinary world.'
I was brought up on a council estate. I know what it's like to be poor.
If I did one thing, I made cooking rock n' roll: I made it sexy. I made young kids from rich backgrounds want to come into my world.
I don't believe I've ever truly been in love because I don't believe that I've known myself well enough in the past to allow someone to love me.
'Kitchen Wars' makes 'MasterChef' look like a walk in the park!
When I look at old pictures, I see my son Luciano, not me. Luciano looks identical. That's what's extraordinary, the power of a gene pool.
Anybody who thinks they're the perfect parent is a fool.
English wine is nonsense. They are over-priced and not very good.
The French make the best wine.
Buy locally where possible, but if you can't get the very best locally, don't buy locally. Buy it from where it is best.
When you roast a chicken perfectly, there's nothing more delicious.
I just can't stand Tony Blair.
I'm the Christopher Biggins of reality TV.
The pressure of TV can force people to do odd things.
People are bored of these 12-course gastronomic menus. They want affordable glamour.
Restaurants should be democratic; you shouldn't be made to feel privileged for getting a table or being lectured by the waiter.
Whether dealing with children or chefs, they are all giant babies in need of nurturing.
I never met a man who worked harder than me.
Good people are always forgiving. They close an eye to one's failings.
Cooking is a philosophy; it's not a recipe.
A chef's palate is born out of his childhood, and one thing all chefs have in common is a mother who can cook.
I think self-discovery is the greatest achievement in life, because once you discover yourself and accept what you are, then you can fulfil your true potential and be happy.