Julia Child > Quotes

“The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook.”
― Julia Child

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

“If you're afraid of butter, use cream.”
― Julia Child

“You'll never know everything about anything, especially something you love.”
― Julia Child

“This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook- try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“Life itself is the proper binge.”
― Julia Child

“Cooking is like love; it should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”
― Julia Child

“Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”
― Julia Child

“The best way to execute French cooking is to get good and loaded and whack the hell out of a chicken. Bon appétit. ”
― Julia Child

“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?”
― Julia Child

“...nothing is too much trouble if it turns out the way it should.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it.”
― Julia Child

“You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients.”
― Julia Child

“Always start out with a larger pot than what you think you need.”
― Julia Child

“Fat gives things flavor.”
― Julia Child

“Everything in moderation... including moderation.”
― Julia Child

“I think every woman should have a blowtorch.”
― Julia Child

“You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made,' [Chef Bugnard] said. 'Even after you eat it, it stays with you - always.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.”
― Julia Child

“Upon reflection, I decided I had three main weaknesses: I was confused (evidenced by a lack of facts, an inability to coordinate my thoughts, and an inability to verbalize my ideas); I had a lack of confidence, which cause me to back down from forcefully stated positions; and I was overly emotional at the expense of careful, 'scientific' though. I was thirty-seven years old and still discovering who I was.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“Until I discovered cooking, I was never really interested in anything.”
― Julia Child

“Once you have mastered a technique, you barely have to look at a recipe again”
― Julia Child, Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking

“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. The you savor it, analyze it, and discuss it with your companions, and you compare it with other experiences.”
― Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking

“I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate”
― Julia Child

“But I was a pure romantic, and only operating with half my burners turned on.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“Bon A Petiet"
-Julia Child”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“She was my first cat ever, and I thought she was marvelous. ”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“Just speak very loudly and quickly, and state your position with utter conviction, as the French do, and you'll have a marvelous time!”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“Remember, 'No one's more important than people'! In other words, friendship is the most important thing--not career or housework, or one's fatigue--and it needs to be tended and nurtured.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“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.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“...the waiters carried themselves with a quiet joy, as if their entire mission in life was to make their customers feel comfortable and well tended.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“The sweetness and generosity and politeness and gentleness and humanity of the French had shown me how lovely life can be if one takes time to be friendly.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“I was thirty-seven years old and still discovering who I was.”
― Julia Child

“We hit it off immediately, especially Helene, who was a 'swallow-life-in-big-gulps' kind of person.”
― Julia Child

“...no one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“We ate the lunch with painful politeness and avoided discussing its taste. I made sure not to apologize for it. This was a rule of mine.
I don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make...
Usually one's cooking is better than one thinks it is. And if the food is vile,...then the cook must simply grit her teeth and bear it with a smile- and learn from her mistakes.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“We are so bemused by our own petard, that we are unable to look at things objectively.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“There are only four great arts: music, painting, sculpture, and ornamental pastry- architecture being perhaps the least banal derivative of the latter.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“...small helpings, no seconds, no snacking, and a little bit of everything. - Julia Child”
― Julia Child

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

“I admired the English immensely for all that they had endured, and they were certainly honorable, and stopped their cars for pedestrians, and called you “sir” and “madam,” and so on. But after a week there, I began to feel wild. It was those ruddy English faces, so held in by duty, the sense of “what is done” and “what is not done,” and always swigging tea and chirping, that made me want to scream like a hyena”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“It was fun, although we felt like pawns, or prawns, in the maelstrom.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“Ye gods! But you're not standing around holding it by the hand all this time. No. [...] [T]he dough takes care of itself. [...] While you cannot speed up the process, you can slow it down at any point by setting the dough in a cooler place [...] then continue where you left off, when you are ready to do so. In other words, you are the boss of that dough. ”
― Julia Child

“Maybe the cat has fallen into the stew, or the lettuce has frozen, or the cake has collapsed. Eh bien, tant pis. Usually one's cooking is better than one thinks it is. And if the food is truly vile, then the cook must simply grit her teeth and bear it with a smile, and learn from her mistakes.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“...operational proof...it's all theory until you see for yourself whether or not something works.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“Was it a sign of Creeping Decrepitude?”
― Julia Child, My Life in France

“In the blood-heat of pursuing the enemy, many people are forgetting what we are fighting for. We are fighting for our hard-won liberty and freedom; for our Constitution and the due processes of our laws; and for the right to differ in ideas, religion and politics. I am convinced that in your zeal to fight against our enemies, you, too, have forgotten what you are fighting for.”
― Julia Child, My Life in France