I love faltering. I love, in a sense, coming up short. Because you learn nothing from success. You learn so much from failing.

A jazz musician can improvise based on his knowledge of music. He understands how things go together. For a chef, once you have that basis, that's when cuisine is truly exciting.

Excellence is about fighting and pursuing something diligently, with a strict and determined approach to doing it right. It's okay if there are flaws in the process - it makes it more interesting.

You have to be critical of what you do every day, to analyze it and be willing to push it further.

The art of cooking is among the most intimate things that we can do for another.

Chefs, as a whole, say yes to any project, fundraiser, or tasting because they have such a generous spirit.

I’m all about making money. It’s the greatest thing, because it means you get money to spend.

Fernand Point's philosophy instilled what cuisine is all about: generosity and hugeness of heart.

My fantasy is to have a restaurant where there are no written menus, but where you just ask people, What are you in the mood for? Fish? Meat? White wine?

It's a challenge to demonstrate that you can prepare some really interesting food with humble ingredients.

Cuisine is only about making foods taste the way they are supposed to taste.

We are not our own light.

I'm ready to do some classics. Maybe I wasn't in the beginning. I weighed 179 pounds when I got to New York, and I had that thick Southern accent. I still talk Southern, but I can do without it.

I'm working harder than I have ever worked in my entire life, but what the hell, my life is my job now, and my job is my life and that's the way it should be.

History is a living whole. If one organ be removed, it is nothing but a lifeless mass.

Ideology is the science of idiots.

I started out in 1985, and I was Inmate #1 in every prison movie made from '85 to '93.

It's absurd how aspirants to designer-label colleges become obsessed with perfection so they can get into one. I'm not convinced it's worth prostituting yourself for that.

I like guys who are confident but not cocky, who are comfortable with themselves, and who know what they want.

The only purpose of customer service is to change feelings.

I like to score a proper goal, you know - a passing move.