No matter what their background, the southern French are fascinated by food.

Why not make a daily pleasure out a daily necessity.

The great thing about having money is that you can actually just get on with your life and not have to think about paying the bills or crouch over The Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times and look at the stock figures and things like that. That bores me rigid.

I have a very set routine. I work six days a week, but only half days. I work from 9 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon, without any interruptions, a fair slug.

Very little happens in my books.

You don't like it when a French housewife gets mad at you. If she gets steam behind her, she is an unstoppable creature.

Best advice I've ever received: Finish.

There is nothing like a comfortable adventure to put people in a good humor. . .

The English kill their meat twice: once when they slaughter it and once when they cook it.

Depending on the inflection, ah bon can express shock, disbelief, indifference, irritation, or joy - a remarkable achievment for two short words.

Nowadays, if you have a journey, albeit a simple one, you consider yourself lucky if nothing happens.

Sundays in France have a different atmosphere to other days, with fewer phone calls, no postman, no delivery men and no one banging on the door.