“I know that two and two make four – and should be glad to prove it too if I could – though I must say if by any sort of process I could convert 2 and 2 into five it would give me much greater pleasure.”

“Though I love my country, I do not love my countrymen.”

“In England the only homage which they pay to Virtue – is hypocrisy.”

“To withdraw myself from myself has ever been my sole, my entire, my sincere motive in scribbling at all.”

“If I don’t write to empty my mind, I go mad.”

“Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.”

“I have no consistency, except in politics; and that probably arises from my indifference to the subject altogether.”

“Death, so called, is a thing which makes men weep, And yet a third of life is passed in sleep.”

“Man’s conscience is the oracle of God.”

“He who is only just is cruel. Who on earth could live were all judged justly?”

“Wine cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires the young, makes weariness forget his toil.”

“Man, being reasonable, must get drunk; the best of life is but intoxication.”

“There’s naught, no doubt, so much the spirit calms as rum and true religion.”

“The best prophet of the future is the past.”

“They never fail who die in a great cause.”

“’Tis very certain the desire of life prolongs it.”

“’Tis very certain the desire of life prolongs it.”

“Between two worlds life hovers like a star, twixt night and morn, upon the horizon’s verge.”

“One certainly has a soul; but how it came to allow itself to be enclosed in a body is more than I can imagine. I only know if once mine gets out, I’ll have a bit of a tussle before I let it get in again to that of any other.”

“The heart will break, but broken live on.”

“Pleasure’s a sin, and sometimes sin’s a pleasure.”

“Who loves, raves.”

“Lovers may be – and indeed generally are – enemies, but they never can be friends, because there must always be a spice of jealousy and a something of Self in all their speculations.”

“Absence – that common cure of love.”

“’Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark our coming, and look brighter when we come.”

“The poor dog, in life the firmest friend. The first to welcome, foremost to defend.”

“Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey.” – Lord Byron

“What a strange thing man is; and what a stranger thing woman.”

“There is no such thing as a life of passion any more than a continuous earthquake, or an eternal fever. Besides, who would ever have themselves in such a state?”

“Friendship is Love without his wings!”

“Friendship may, and often does, grow into love, but love never subsides into friendship.”

“Self-love for ever creeps out, like a snake, to sting anything which happens to stumble upon it.”

“Sometimes we are less unhappy in being deceived by those we love, than in being undeceived by them.”

“Like the measles, love is most dangerous when it comes late in life.”

“I am sure of nothing so little as my own intentions.”

“Man’s love is of man’s life a part; it is a woman’s whole existence. In her first passion, a woman loves her lover, in all the others all she loves is love.”

“There are four questions of value in life… What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love.”

“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”

“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”

“People who love to eat are always the best people.”

“The only time to eat diet food is when you’re waiting for a steak to cook.”

“I enjoy cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.”

“Always remember: if you’re alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up. Who’s going to know?”

“No-one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.”

“You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made,’ [Chef Bugnard] said. ‘Even after you eat it, it stays with you – always.”

“Just like becoming an expert in wine–you learn by drinking it, the best you can afford–you learn about great food by finding the best there is, whether simply or luxurious.”

“But I was a pure romantic, and only operating with half my burners turned on.”

“One of the secrets, and pleasures, of cooking is to learn to correct something if it goes awry; and one of the lessons is to grin and bear it if it cannot be fixed.”

“We had a happy marriage because we were together all the time. We were friends as well as husband and wife. We just had a good time.”

“Fat gives things flavor.”