Gordon Ramsay

“It's very hard when you eat out every day for a living, and a new restaurant comes along and you haven't got that same vigour that you had 10 years ago.”

“I still love football, though, and I think cooking is like football. It's not a job, it's a passion. When you become good at it, it's a dream job and financially you need never to worry. Ever.”

“I was a naturally aggressive left-back, a cut-throat tackler.”

“I swim like a fish and I have an amazing kick.”

“I've had a lot of success; I've had failures, so I learn from the failure.”

“There is a level of snobbery and fickleness in L.A.”

“I mean, families are weird.”

“I came up from a difficult background.”

“If you want to become a great chef, you have to work with great chefs. And that's exactly what I did.”

“I didn't get depressed, I don't get depressed.”

“I don't think it's a good advert for any restaurant, a fat chef, and secondly, who wants to eat a dessert when the chef's a fat pig.”

“I'm not critic-proof, and I still take it personally, but I take it less personally now.”

“There's a bond among a kitchen staff, I think. You spend more time with your chef in the kitchen than you do with your own family.”

“I've got nothing to hide.”

“I act on impulse and I go with my instincts.”

“I don't run restaurants that are out of control. We are about establishing phenomenal footholdings with talent.”

“My wife, a schoolteacher, very disciplined. If you think I'm tough, trust me, and wait till you see when the children are on the naughty step. It's hilarious. So we decided that I'm going to work like a donkey and provide amazing support for the family.”

“I am the most unselfish chef in Britain today.”

“Cooking today is a young man's game, I don't give a bollocks what anyone says.”

“As a soccer player, I wanted an FA Cup winner's medal. As an actor you want an Oscar. As a chef it's three-Michelin's stars, there's no greater than that. So pushing yourself to the extreme creates a lot of pressure and a lot of excitement, and more importantly, it shows on the plate.”