I was kind of an innocent hayseed from a middle-class, utterly nonintellectual background.

Noodles are not only amusing but delicious.

The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook.

A party without cake is really just a meeting.

You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients.

People who love to eat are always the best people.

The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.

In department stores, so much kitchen equipment is bought indiscriminately by people who just come in for men's underwear.

Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.

I think anyone who is a carnivore needs to understand that meat does not originally come in these neat little packages.

Only your faith can make your fears go away.

There is joy in every circumstance. Although the beginning is/might be bitter, there are valuables lessons in between that bring joy.

My songs are like my children. I love every single one of them.

You must forgive me, for I struggled only for you.

Punk rock really came out of N.Y. as a philosophy before the groups were ever recorded. I had a kind-of intellectual interest in the idea of creating a new scene that could be a grassroots thing.

I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.

Making fun of anyone who seeks happiness rather than money and accusing them of "lacking ambition."

Sloth is all passions the most powerful.

Fashion is fun, ridiculously fun. But it's base and it's wrong. You're not doing anything good for the world. You're just saying, 'Buy it, buy it, buy it.