Marco Pierre White

“You cannot criticize a man for going to work. You really cannot.”

“Nine out of 10 English chefs have their names on their chests. Who do they think they are? They're dreamers. They're jokes.”

“I never met a man who worked harder than me.”

“I am a believer that if you bring children into this world, then you have a responsibility to do your best and support and guide them until the day you die.”

“The newspapers had described me as the Jagger of the Aga. It wasn't hard living up to the reputation.”

“If I think back to the eighties, my methods weren't conventional, but they got results.”

“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.”

“Harveys opened against the backdrop of Thatcher's greed culture.”

“Self-control is true power.”

“Perhaps I created the monster Ramsay, who ended up as a TV personality screaming at celebrities on 'Hell's Kitchen,' doing to them what I had done to him.”

“Oliver Reed was a great man who did things his own way. He used to come into Harveys, my restaurant in Wandsworth, and sit on the floor to have a drink before going to the table.”

“You'll never see me at award ceremonies.”

“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.”

“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.”

“A lot of people say I look like a rock star or a designer punk. But I swear it's the job that has carved my face. It's the hours, the stress, and the pressure. It's not me trying to look like this.”

“I never had a drink at all till I was 38. I'm just not a drinker. I go days without drinking.”

“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.”

“The reason I do television is because we all have to work and earn a living, as I have four children. It's also a platform for me to share my knowledge and inspire the young.”

“For me, food is about generosity, and this should reflect on the plate as well.”

“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.”