“I do not understand why, when I ask for grilled lobster in a restaurant, I’m never served a cooked telephone.”

I do not believe in my death.

This grandiose tragedy that we call modern art.

If you understand a painting beforehand, you might as well not paint it.

Young people need plenty of difficulties to achieve something.

Forever will be you and me.

A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others.

I do not paint a portrait to look like the subject, rather does the person grow to look like his portrait.

We are all hungry and thirsty for concrete images.

Man cannot change or escape his time. The eye sees the present and the future.

The connoisseur does not drink wine but tastes its secrets.

It is not necessary for the public to know whether I am joking or whether I am serious, just as it is not necessary for me to know it myself.

What is important is to spread confusion, not eliminate it.

Painting is an infinitely minute part of my personality.

This grandiose tragedy that we call modern art.

If I’m going to be anything more than average, if anyone is going to remember me, then I need to go further, in art, in life, in everything!

An elegant woman is a woman who despises you and has no hair under her arms.

I can’t really cook, but the first dish I ever made was for my girlfriend, Eleanor. I made chicken breast wrapped in ham, homemade mashed potatoes, and gravy.

I used to play hooky from school so I could watch cooking shows.

Our mom cooks well, and we cook poorly. We try.

Mum doesn’t like it when I mention that Dad’s a better cook than her. He was born in Spain and spent eight years in Portugal and is exceptional at lots of cuisines.

It’s too much of a drinking culture, everything tastes better with a drink. Like, watch TV: glass of wine. Cooking dinner: glass of champagne. White wine vinegar hasn’t got white wine in it. Has it?

I think an artist is anybody who does something well, like if you cook well.

I cook. I go to farmers markets in London and cook really good sort of organic foods.

Cooking is an act of love, a gift, a way of sharing with others the little secrets — ‘piccoli segreti’ — that are simmering on the burners.