Top 50 Thomas Keller Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.”

— Thomas Keller

2. “Any job worth doing is worth doing well. But to be able to do that, you have to do it over and over again.”

— Thomas Keller

3. “Respect for food is respect for life, for who we are and what we do.”

— Thomas Keller

4. “Success is measured by the memories you create.”

— Thomas Keller

5. “Repetition is the mother of perfection. If there is true perfection, it’s about doing something over and over again. I truly think that if somebody does a recipe they’ve never done before and gets it right, they’re probably more lucky than they are talented.”

— Thomas Keller

6. “When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.”

— Thomas Keller

7. “This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane.”

— Thomas Keller

8. “It’s not about perfection; it’s about the joy of striving.”

— Thomas Keller

9. “You have to be driven. You have to be focused. You have to be aware.”

— Thomas Keller

10. “A cookbook must have recipes, but it shouldn’t be a blueprint. It should be more inspirational; it should be a guide.”

— Thomas Keller

11. “The law of diminishing returns is something I really believe in.”

— Thomas Keller

12. “We go through our careers and things happen to us. Those experiences made me what I am.”

— Thomas Keller

13. “For me, thats one of the important things about cooking. What was good enough yesterday may not be good enough today.”

— Thomas Keller

14. “Let’s face it: if you and I have the same capabilities, the same energy, the same staff, if the only thing that’s different between you and me is the products we can get, and I can get a better product than you, I’m going to be a better chef.”

— Thomas Keller

15. “I think that’s the important thing – being aware of that inspiration and being able to interpret it into something that’s meaningful for you.”

— Thomas Keller

16. “Even the most astute chefs seek out the assistance of Celine Labaune, owner of Gourmet Attitude, because they know they can rely on her keen senses and deep understanding of the truffle trade.”

— Thomas Keller

17. “Anyone can make a good roast chicken.”

— Thomas Keller

18. “And don’t forget music – music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!”

— Thomas Keller

19. “Its not about passion. Passion is something that we tend to overemphasize, that we certainly place too much importance on. Passion ebbs and flows. To me, it’s about desire. If you have constant, unwavering desire to be a cook, then u’ll be a great cook.”

— Thomas Keller

20. “With passion, if you see the first asparagus of the springtime and you become passionate about it, so much the better, but three weeks later, when you’ve seen that asparagus every day now, passions have subsided. What’s going to make you treat the asparagus the same? It’s the desire.”

— Thomas Keller

21. “The media builds you up, and then it tears you down.”

— Thomas Keller

22. “Good food is a good trend.”

— Thomas Keller

23. “But once in a while you might see me at In and Out Burger; they make the best fast food hamburgers around.”

— Thomas Keller

24. “Once you understand the foundations of cooking – whatever kind you like, whether it’s French or Italian or Japanese – you really don’t need a cookbook anymore.”

— Thomas Keller

25. “Hopefully, imparting what’s important to me, respect for the food and that information about the purveyors, people will realize that for a restaurant to be good, so many pieces have to come together.”

— Thomas Keller

26. “I guess the main source of stress for me is the stress I put on myself.”

— Thomas Keller

27. “Vegetables to me are – I don’t want to say the most exciting part of cooking, but certainly a very exciting part of cooking, because they continue to change. They come into season and they go through different phases.”

— Thomas Keller

28. “I think if you can take one or two things from a cookbook, it’s successful.”

— Thomas Keller

29. “Whether it’s destiny or fate or whatever, I don’t think I could do a French Laundry anywhere else.”

— Thomas Keller

30. “You’re getting to know who the great chefs are through their books.”

— Thomas Keller

31. “My favorite wines are Zinfandels.”

— Thomas Keller

32. “I wonder if I love the communal act of eating so much because throughout my childhood, with four older brothers and a mom who worked in the restaurant business, I spent a lot of time fending for myself, eating alone – and recognizing how eating together made all the difference.”

— Thomas Keller

33. “When I go out to eat, it’s usually something moderate in style.”

— Thomas Keller

34. “I believe Fernand Point is one of the last true gourmands of the 20th century. His ruminations are extraordinary and thought-provoking. He has been an inspiration for legions of chefs.”

— Thomas Keller

35. “I don’t think you could have a 7 with a manual. But I can’t see having a BMW sports sedan without a manual.”

— Thomas Keller

36. “My childhood wasn’t full of wonderful culinary memories.”

— Thomas Keller

37. “The book is there for inspiration and as a foundation, the fundamentals on which to build.”

— Thomas Keller

38. “Larousse is an invaluable tool for any cook. I’ve used this great resource all throughout my cooking career, and of course I look forward to the new edition. New information and knowledge are always welcome.”

— Thomas Keller

39. “They know what my standards are. They know what I need and how to get it to me, and they know how to communicate with me if for some reason they can’t get it.”

— Thomas Keller

40. “One of the problems with writing a cookbook is that recipes exist in the moment.”

— Thomas Keller

41. “A kaiseki meal is like that, very small courses over a long period of time.”

— Thomas Keller

42. “I like to drink young wines, wines which are robust and have a lot of forward fruit to them.”

— Thomas Keller

43. “I drank more wine when I wasn’t working as much, to be honest.”

— Thomas Keller

44. “Some of the recipes in the book have evolved for us. Many haven’t.”

— Thomas Keller

45. “I think every young cook wants to write a book.”

— Thomas Keller

46. “I wanted to learn everything I could about what it takes to be a great chef. It was a turning point for me.”

— Thomas Keller

47. “I came to understand that the words executive and corporate never belong next to the word chef.”

— Thomas Keller

48. “I didnt want to be encumbered by what anyone elses abilities were, their equipment or environment or their ability to get certain products.”

— Thomas Keller

49. “You don’t know when inspiration is going to come. But you have to be aware of what’s going on around you, so that at any moment, when inspiration happens, you’re ready for it and you interpret it.”

— Thomas Keller

50. “We rely on our purveyors to tell us what’s available and what’s good.”

— Thomas Keller