Good people are always forgiving. They close an eye to one's failings.
— Marco Pierre White
My mind might be conservative, but at heart, I was always a socialist.
You cannot criticize a man for going to work. You really cannot.
Cuisine Nouvelle was just a concept, and one which, crucially, the English managed to get wrong. I mean, if you run a restaurant, you've got to feed people, not make pretty little pictures on plates to make up for your lack of ability.
My grandfather, father, and uncle were chefs, and my other uncle was a butcher.
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.
English wine is nonsense. They are over-priced and not very good.
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.
Cooking is a philosophy; it's not a recipe.
There's something rather comforting about putting on an apron.
If you really want to know what motivated me as a young man, it was a fear of death.
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.
I met my first wife at the fishmonger's in the summer of 1987, some six months after opening Harveys.
We all make mistakes. God knows I've made more than anyone else I know.
I like my mind being stimulated. I like discovering new concepts.
In 1990 at Harveys, when I was 28 years old, I became the youngest chef to win two Michelin stars. It was a huge achievement.
The newspapers had described me as the Jagger of the Aga. It wasn't hard living up to the reputation.
I never met a man who worked harder than me.
Restaurants should be democratic; you shouldn't be made to feel privileged for getting a table or being lectured by the waiter.
The pressure of TV can force people to do odd things.
I just can't stand Tony Blair.
When you roast a chicken perfectly, there's nothing more delicious.
Just because something is English does not necessarily mean it is good. We make the best cheddar; we make great pasties. But we can't make very good brie or baguettes - and the French can't make pork pies.
Once you accept and understand yourself, you do things for the right reasons, not the wrong ones, rather than being fuelled by your insecurities.
Can you imagine, I lost my mother at age six? My childhood ended then.
Females make better cooks than men. Females have a better palate. They have a better sense of smell. They never take shortcuts; this is why they're very good in kitchens. The weakness in what they do is they are not as physically strong as men, so they're never really given the opportunity.
If I think back to the eighties, my methods weren't conventional, but they got results.
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.
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 think it's really important for every young person to work in a kitchen because you learn a life skill.
Life is an emotional rollercoaster. It really is.
I love working. I love doing things. I don't like sitting.
'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.
Rudeness is not having fun, and if it is, it's at the expense of another person.
Whether dealing with children or chefs, they are all giant babies in need of nurturing.
People are bored of these 12-course gastronomic menus. They want affordable glamour.
I'm the Christopher Biggins of reality TV.
The food wasn't very good in the first kitchen I ever worked in. But it was very busy, so I learnt to be fast, absorb pressure, use a knife, and say, 'Yes, chef.'
My favourite dessert is tarte Tatin.
The French make the best wine.
Anybody who thinks they're the perfect parent is a fool.
'Kitchen Wars' makes 'MasterChef' look like a walk in the park!
I was brought up a working-class Tory. I believe, to be a true socialist, you have to be a capitalist first. In my heart, I'm a socialist; in my mind, I'm a capitalist.
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.
I was brought up on a council estate. I know what it's like to be poor.
I came from a hard, working-class world which, since my mother's death, had been dominated by men. I hadn't been encouraged to talk about the burden of grief, and because I was severely underdeveloped when it came to sharing my emotions, I mustn't have been the most communicative husband.
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 love the institution of marriage.
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.
Harveys opened against the backdrop of Thatcher's greed culture.
