Charlie Trotter Quotes

• I have always looked at it this way: If you strive like crazy for perfection - an all-out assault on total perfection - at the very least you will hit a high level of excellence, and then you might be able to sleep at night. To accomplish something truly significant, excellence has to become a life plan.

  Charlie Trotter

  Crazy, Sleep, Night

  37 Copy quote

• A jazz musician can improvise based on his knowledge of music. He understands how things go together. For a chef, once you have that basis, that's when cuisine is truly exciting.

  Charlie Trotter

  Food, Together, Musician

  58 Copy quote

• Excellence is about fighting and pursuing something diligently, with a strict and determined approach to doing it right. It's okay if there are flaws in the process - it makes it more interesting.

  Charlie Trotter

  Fighting, Interesting, Excellence

  35 Copy quote

• Well, I kind of think that the opposite is true. The customer is rarely right. And that is why you must seize the control of the circumstance and dominate every last detail: to guarantee that they're going to have a far better time than they ever would have had if they tried to control it themselves.

  Charlie Trotter

  Thinking, Guarantees That, Opposites

  37 Copy quote

• I love faltering. I love, in a sense, coming up short. Because you learn nothing from success. You learn so much from failing.

  Charlie Trotter

  Failing, Faltering

  30 Copy quote

• You have to be critical of what you do every day, to analyze it and be willing to push it further.

  Charlie Trotter

  Critical, Willing

  30 Copy quote

• The art of cooking is among the most intimate things that we can do for another.

  Charlie Trotter

  Art, Cooking, Intimate

  22 Copy quote

• Chefs, as a whole, say yes to any project, fundraiser, or tasting because they have such a generous spirit.

  Charlie Trotter

  Generous Spirit, Fundraising, Chef

  17 Copy quote

• Fernand Point's philosophy instilled what cuisine is all about: generosity and hugeness of heart.

  Charlie Trotter

  Philosophy, Heart, Generosity

  13 Copy quote

• My fantasy is to have a restaurant where there are no written menus, but where you just ask people, What are you in the mood for? Fish? Meat? White wine?

  Charlie Trotter

  Wine, White, People

  12 Copy quote

• It's a challenge to demonstrate that you can prepare some really interesting food with humble ingredients.

  Charlie Trotter

  Humble, Interesting, Challenges

  11 Copy quote

• I’m all about making money. It’s the greatest thing, because it means you get money to spend.

  Charlie Trotter

  Mean, Get Money, Making Money

  15 Copy quote

• Cuisine is only about making foods taste the way they are supposed to taste.

  Charlie Trotter

  Food, Cooking, Way

  11 Copy quote

• If you want the meaning of families and life and religion and philosophy rolled into one package, all you need to read is The Brothers Karamazov.

  Charlie Trotter

  Brother, Philosophy, Needs

  11 Copy quote

• Students need to learn how to think critically, how to argue opposing ideas. It is important for them to learn how to think. You can always cook.

  Charlie Trotter

  Thinking, Ideas, Important

  9 Copy quote

• One must know combinations, one must have a true knowledge of food to be in the moment.

  Charlie Trotter

  Moments, Combination, True Knowledge

  9 Copy quote

• Always make stock in a large quantity and freeze it in plastic bags. That way, when you want to make a nice soup or boil veggies, you can simply pull the bag out of the freezer.

  Charlie Trotter

  Nice, Way, Bags

  8 Copy quote

• My parents couldnt be looser. It was the ultimate laissez faire upbringing.

  Charlie Trotter

  Parent, Laissez Faire Capitalism, Ultimate

  7 Copy quote

• I couldnt really relate to the fraternity or party scene, to the people out in the mall every day protesting one thing or another. I felt like there was no one I could relate to.

  Charlie Trotter

  Party, People, Fraternity

  8 Copy quote

• I never considered Miles Davis a perfectionist; I always considered him as an excellence-ist, where deviation is actually kind of cool.

  Charlie Trotter

  Excellence, Kind, Perfectionist

  7 Copy quote

• What I was reading was already part of my psyche, but finally someone else was saying it's okay to walk alone.

  Charlie Trotter

  Book, Reading, Okay

  4 Copy quote

• I wasnt using college as a stepping stone to law school or some other career. I just wanted a liberal-arts education.

  Charlie Trotter

  Art, School, College

  4 Copy quote

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