I think being famous is more of a hindrance, a constraint, than just letting yourself be free.

When you have a good stock, you can make a good soup.

Happiness is within. It has nothing to do with how much applause you get or how many people praise you. Happiness comes when you believe that you have done something truly meaningful.

First of all, I can't really claim to be a great chef.

I don't like to waste anything. Any food left over from the night before is always eaten the next day.

You don't have to show people how successful you are.

I think a lot of times it's not money that's the primary motivation factor; it's the passion for your job and the professional and personal satisfaction that you get out of doing what you do that motivates you.

I remember when I was in college, I used to watch Julia Child's cooking show during dinner and joke with my roommates about becoming a TV chef.

Because normally with Western cuisine, you'll serve vegetables separate from the meat, so kids will eat the meat and never touch the vegetables.

I enjoy the quiet life.

The hoopla, the applause, the praises have never excited me.

The problem with a lot of Chinese is that they put up divisions between Taiwanese, Hong Kong natives, mainlanders. We are never united. I really hope that the Chinese can be more united.

Soy sauce is really a multi-purpose seasoning.

I think being famous is more of a hindrance, a constraint, than just letting yourself be free.

Why is America such a great country. It is because we stand united.

You can do almost anything with soup stock, it's like a strong foundation. When you have the right foundation, everything tastes good.

I have a lot of cooking tools. In fact I have a whole drawer full of knives. Cooking tools, especially cutlery, are my toys.

When I retire or pass away, I will be able to look back and say that this has been an exciting life. That's all that matters.

A lot of people don't enjoy their job, they may even hate it, but I am lucky enough to be able to make a living through my passion.

As long as the food is well prepared and not overdone, I think it tastes good. It doesn't matter if it's Chinese, Japanese, anything.

If I could only have one type of food with me, I would bring soy sauce. The reason being that if I have soy sauce, I can flavor a lot of things.

Some people never contribute anything positive to society, they may even drain our resources, but most of us try to do something better, to give back.

Just like if you were brought up on a farm, you would most likely carry on your father's business as a farmer; I was brought up in the kitchen and ended up becoming a chef.

Anyone that has come to America past the age of eighteen will be able to understand when I say that you can never shake your accent.

I can represent my culture while helping not only the Chinese-American community, but also the community at large.

I normally don't eat junk food.

I am just a normal professional with a great job and a great life.

I live a very low-key life.

Well, you know, if you get into the profession because you think you can make a lot of money, you can never become successful.

The only thing that counts is if you know how to prepare your ingredients. Even if with the best and freshest ingredients in the world, if your dish is tasteless or burnt, it's ruined.

In general I love to eat anything. I enjoy anything that is well prepared, a good spaghetti, lasagna, taco, steak, sushi, refried beans.

I also have a lot of preserved foods, things that will keep for a long time like dried fish, seaweed or lotus seed.

Chinese culture has a lot of virtues that are tremendously valuable to not only us as Asian-Americans, but also the world in general.

People who don't travel cannot have a global view, all they see is what's in front of them. Those people cannot accept new things because all they know is where they live.

At thirteen, when I arrived in Hong Kong after leaving China, I made a living by working in a restaurant.

I've never considered myself a celebrity or even part of the entertainment business. I'm a cooking teacher.

When you enjoy what you do, work becomes play.

So when I do Chinese cooking, I mix everything together, then the kids have to eat their vegetables. They won't have the patience to pick them out.

I can remember the frustration of not being able to talk. I knew what I wanted to say, but I could not get the words out, so I would just scream.

What I try to do for my readers is to pass on some of the things that I found out about being thirteen after doing it for forty years.

In this watering-place I acted an heroic character, badly studied; and being a novice on such a stage, I forgot my part before a pair of lovely blue eyes.

Young people discovering their sexuality must know they walk with a strong tradition and that they are not alone. They have a right to information without being pressured.

Being a publicist is like management in a lot of ways - you're their friend, you're their mother, you're their confidante.

I mean, all alternative comedy is are comedians that have being doing it for so long, for so long, that they were relaxed enough to start becoming personal on stage.

I became hooked on the idea of being able to shoot an image and process it myself, and end up with a product.

Being a cover artist is not like being a real artist. That's just copying what someone else did.

It is too maddening. I've got to fly off, right now, to some devilish navy yard, three hours in a seasick steamer, and after being heartily sick, I'll have to speak three times, and then I'll be sick coming home. Still, who would not be sick for England?

I don't like being recognised, I have no interest in being famous at all, I just do what I do. If I could be like Captain Kirk and beam myself up and then beam myself down, I would!

I'm glad I'm not Brezhnev. Being the Russian leader in the Kremlin. You never know if someone's tape recording what you say.