P.J. Gordon Quotes

You don't get Billie Joe Armstrong's autograph on your forehead without following your instincts.

Be the Ambulance. Make toast.

Wonderful. What's the point of throwing a hissy fit without friends and family on hand to hear it?" -Amy Cahill

Don't have stories; have sentences.

Life's two most important questions are Why? and Why not? The trick is knowing which one to ask.

I had known poverty firsthand, but there I learned how to fight its evil - along with the evil of racism - with a camera.

Use anger to emotionalize whatever thing you intend to do in life - being a painter, a poet or a photographer

And now, I feel at 85, I really feel that I'm just ready to start.

Success can be wracking and reproachful, to you and those close to you. It can entangle you with legends that are consuming and all but impossible to live up to.

Washington, D.C. in 1942 was not the easiest place in the world for a Negro to get along.

Every ten years or so, I liked to do a film about an artist - this allowed me to reflect on our own work.

Unrivalled not only in its class, but in a class by itself.

The level of jealousy and insecurity in this industry [restaurant] is far greater than ever before.

Pressure's healthy. It becomes stressful when you can't handle that. I mean, if you don't want to become pressurized in this environment, then don't be a chef.

I cook for a living; I'm not a scheduler.

I quite like that jeopardy, those up-against-the-wall odds. I don't like it when it's over-comfortable, too easy, something that can be done in two or three weeks. I like a challenge.

We're fragile, fragmented souls who are very sensitive to criticism.

It's amazing. Long Island, I don't know really. It's quite a fascinating area.

To have 95% of the ingredients sourced, food and wine, within 100 miles radius, that's a dream come true for any chef.

I think, to Chelsea's [Handler] point, I still need directing because sometimes I go a little bit off beat in a way that it's like, rein it in. I welcome that kind of support.

We launched it in the London branch - phenomenal sausages, incredible eggs, homemade baked beans, black pudding - and it's something I wanted to bring to Dubai.

[I spend a] lot [time travelling]. Between the restaurants, filming for TV, producing MasterChef, seeing the kids... it's pretty constant.

How many restaurants do we know across the world that customers visit once and once only?

You know how arrogant the French are - extraordinary.

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.

[My kids] don't need to cook to keep me happy. It's my job as dad to create opportunities so that they can find their passion. Forget about money, find what you really want to do with your life.

When you have the arrogance, the confidence and you can't cook, then you're only going to look stupid.

That's what we do on "MasterChef," on "Junior." No school teachers, no parents, let it go. You're going to go on a challenge. We're going to go to hell and back, and we're going to have some bumps.

Someone sent me a picture of my name that was tattooed on their a***! The first thing I said was, the least you could have done was spell it properly!

From 16 to 26, no one really knows what they want to do for the rest of their life at that age. Latin's not f - ing one of them.

I hate it when people just downright copy. I hate it.

The thing is, I can teach. I can teach bloody well. So few chefs have that level of generosity. I demand a lot, a f***ing hell of a lot, but I give a lot back.

I am happy for them all: Angela Hartnett, Jason Atherton, Marcus Wareing, Mark Sargeant.

I suppose more than anything, chefs have gotten better, which is great news, which makes my life a lot easier. I can be a lot more creative in terms of the menu.

Everything has to be done for a reason, and everything has to be done to make sense in terms of running a proper business today, and it's not just about the food.

Another person tattooed my face on their calf. When they tense, the face moves! That is messed up.

The amount of customers who take pictures before they eat is insane.

A lot of people think that I am only in town when I'm doing the publicity circuit, but I actually come [Bread Street] regularly. I just don't publicise it.

Stay with what's happening locally. It's really important.

I can't say, maybe it's something in the ingredients, but again, we have a couple of contestants from Long Island and a phenomenal array of chefs.

Here, in L.A., trust me, there will be fireworks from the canapés right through to the desserts.

I've been in New York for 15 months. Winning two stars in the Zagat number one best newcomer within ten months of opening in New York has taught me a big lesson.

If you think customers are impatient in New York, wait to you see how impatient they are here in L.A.

Very few restaurants do five services a day - breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, cocktail, theatre and dinner - and because of that we can offer something for everyone.

We outsmarted ourselves and raised the bar even higher, I think.

If everyone could just cook properly I wouldn't have a problem.

Being on a soccer pitch is not the same as being in a kitchen when things are going wrong.

Having four kids of my own, fifth one on the way... I think with "Junior," what's happened over the last three years is this program's been implemented across schools.

It has always stood for f***ing great food.

[Molecular gastronomy] was a great trend, because it experimented with food. The benchmark was [former elBulli head chef] Ferran Adrià, and now he is no longer there it is harder to gauge.