"I see a lot of people, especially younger people, they involve themselves---they have an opportunity to open a restaurant---they involve themselves heart and soul, and that's good, but to the point where they may get burned out. My viewpoint is, there are other parts to life that are very important, and it's by maintaining that balance that I can always find this to be exciting and always get pleasure out of being involved in cooking. If this is the only thing I do and I do it eighteen hours a day, it becomes drudgery and something I may not look forward to. A friend of mine felt that way: he hated to go back into the bakeshop, into the kitchen, and that's terrible if it comes to that, because then he doesn't do a good job. You're not happy, you're miserable, you don't look forward to it."
"You know an artist is represented by his or her paintings or drawings or sculpture, the quality of it...I think we project our values by the food we have on the plate, not necessarily in an artistic sense, but in the sense of flavors we offer. I always feel that when I put food on the plate for my family---anybody---I'm saying 'I feel good about this. This is what I believe is good food. If it's not good food, I wouldn't put it there. This is what I like, this is my standard, this is what I believe is good food and I hope you enjoy it.' I think you make a value statement every time."
-Ferdinand Metz, speaking to Michael Ruhlman in The Making of a Chef
