Gordon Ramsay quotes: the fiery foodie’s best quotes.
“You need to know what you’re aiming for in order to reach it.”
“Put your head down and work hard. Never wait for things to happen, make them happen for yourself through hard graft and not giving up.“
“Push your limit to the absolute extreme.”
“You need to be f*cking stubborn to get to the top. I don’t give a sh*t who you are. It doesn’t just land in your lap. You just put your head down and become incredibly selfish.”
“Best to start at the bottom and gradually climb up. It’s much more fun, too.”
“Practice, practice, practice. Anyone can learn, but you need focus, proper understanding, and to go at the right pace, not running before you can walk.”
“Two key ingredients in any success: a quick learner and someone with a sharp brain.”
“Being assertive and somewhat really firm has to be backed up with being fair.”
“Don’t take it personally. Just take it seriously.”
“I tell these young guys, ‘Look, if you want to get ahead, leave the parents, get out on your own and learn to stand alone.’ If you’re still at home nice and comfortable and secure by the time you’re 21 or 22, you will have no ambition to bust your arse.”
“You’ve got to kiss arse to get somewhere, to learn. Clock-watchers are no good at kissing arse.”
“When you find a guy who is powerful, a big father figure, you latch onto him immediately.”
“I like finding talent. That’s what really turns me on, I suppose.”
“The minute you start compromising for the sake of massaging somebody’s ego, that’s it, game over.”
“To walk into an office and have your ‘good morning’ returned with a grunt and no eye contact is not my idea of a happy house. There is always time to acknowledge that someone is more important than something, even if it takes a couple of precious minutes.”
“I welcome that attitude. Can you name a sports person or an amazing success anywhere in the world that doesn’t have a bit of attitude?”
“If you don’t give a f*ck and you’re not cautious about what you’ve just delivered, that tells you a lot about where you’re going to go… big time.”
“If you want to become a great chef, you have to work with great chefs. And that’s exactly what I did.”
“Focus on your customers and make that synonymous to where you are in terms of area.”
“In any situation, location is crucial.”
“I’ve had a lot of success, I’ve had failures, so I learn from the failure.”
“I don’t like failure. I identify my own mistakes immediately. I don’t dwell on things. And I think dusting yourself down and becoming vulnerable is the key to my success because it keeps it fresh instead of becoming complacent.”
“I don’t like looking back. I’m always constantly looking forward. I’m not the one to sort of sit and cry over spilt milk. I’m too busy looking for the next cow.”
“I don’t record myself and don’t press playback. I’ve never sat at home and watched myself and thought, ‘F*cking hell, what a dick.’ By the time it comes out, I’ve moved on. I take the feedback. The one thing I’ve realized is you can’t please everybody. I believe in getting straight to the point. Don’t give me the problem, give me the solution, that’s crucial.”
“I’m just of-the-moment. I get it off my chest, I think that’s healthy.”
“I suppose your security is your success.”
“I cook, I create, I’m incredibly excited by what I do, I’ve still got a lot to achieve.”
“Being a chef is the best job in the world. Being a chef never seems like a job, it becomes a true passion.”
“The secret is to make sure the business is running to perfection, with or without me.”
“I’d like to think I’m a great teacher.”
“The pressure on young chefs today is far greater than ever before in terms of social skills, marketing skills, cooking skills, personality and, more importantly, delivering on the plate. So you need to be strong. Physically fit. So my chefs get weighed every time they come into the kitchen.”
“Cooking today is a young man’s game, I don’t give a bollocks what anyone says.”
“I act on impulse and I go with my instincts.”
“I shoot from the hip.”
“I think pressure’s healthy, and very few can handle it.”
“We’re fragile, fragmented souls who are very sensitive to criticism. I’m not critic-proof, and I still take it personally, but I take it less personally now. I won’t let people write anything they want to about me.”
“Swearing is industry language. For as long as we’re alive it’s not going to change. You’ve got to be boisterous to get results.”
“Why did the chicken cross the road? Because you didn’t f*cking cook it!”
“They say cats have nine lives. I’ve had 12 already and I don’t know how many more I’ll have.”
“I am what I am. A fighter.”
“A lot of people come into this industry with a kind of greed, but I didn’t find that. I found the passion first and the money came. So whatever happens, I’m never going to lose focus on that level of passion.”
“Money has made life easier. But it doesn’t make me want to run out and buy something because I have that money. I’m very disciplined like that. I’m realistic. It’s tough out there.”
“I grew up dreaming of a Ferrari black horse, so now that I have a few, it’s exciting but I don’t want to push it in people’s faces. That’s the difference. I don’t like showing off.”
“I think every chef, not just in America, but across the world, has a double-edged sword: two jackets, one that’s driven—a self-confessed perfectionist, thoroughbred, hate incompetence; and switch off the stove, take off the jacket and become a family man.”
“I want my kids to see me as dad, for God’s sake, not a television personality. I am a chef who happens to appear on the telly, that’s it.”
“My mother was a former nurse, my late father had various jobs, overshadowed by an addiction to alcohol. My main ambition from that turbulent upbringing (amazing moments with mum, bad moments with dad) was to instill across all four children those values of working hard, being grateful and finding that one thing you’re passionate about.”
“I suppose I might be a player-coach nowadays. I’m a great teacher, and I enjoy teaching. But I’m glad I got injured and ended up turning to cooking. It was an accident but the happiest one of my life.”
“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.”
“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.”
“If I relaxed, if I took my foot off the gas, I would probably die.”
“Stopping the junk food and eating well is partially about cooking well and having the skills to do that. Just learning how to cook for yourself sets you up in a good place.”
“When you’re a chef, you graze. You never get a chance to sit down and eat. They don’t actually sit down and eat before you cook. So when I finish work, the first thing I’ll do, and especially when I’m in New York, I’ll go for a run. And I’ll run 10 or 15k on my own—and I run to gain my appetite.”
“Running started as a way of relaxing. It’s the only time I have to myself. No phones or e-mails or faxes.”
“It sounds weird but the gym is a great way of relaxing. I think I felt, more so in the past five years since it got frantically busy, the fitter I am, the better I handle it. I don’t like personal trainers. I’m not very good at being babysat. I’m a big guy, I know what to do. And then they become your bloody mates and I don’t want that. That quality time is paramount.”
“I don’t think people grasp the real me when they see me on television. I’ve got the wonderful family, the big house, the flash car. I run several of the world’s best restaurants. I’m running round, cursing and swearing, telling people what to do. They probably think: that flash bastard. But my life, like most people’s, is about hard work. It’s about success. Beyond that, though, something else is at play. I’m as driven as any man you’ll ever meet. When I think about myself, I still see a little boy who is desperate to escape, and keen to please. I just keep going, moving as far away as possible from where I began. Work is who I am, who I want to be. I sometimes think that if I were to stop working, I’d stop existing.”
“Things can be f*cking brilliant. Things can be good, and f*cking well-deserved. And f*cking congratulations.”
“I’m Gordon Ramsay, for goodness sake: people know I’m volatile.”
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