on manners

Lady Churchill

I have noticed a recent deterioration in your manner. You're not as kind as you used to be. You've become rough and sarcastic and rude. I don't want you to be disliked.

Winston Churchill

More than I already am?

on eclecticism

 

"A change is as good as a rest."
- Sting [born 1951]

Faking It

 

 

With the help of then still little known alpha chef Gordon Ramsay, a timid fish and chips vendor quickly tranforms formidably. 

But he rejects the prospect of a new "Tier 1" life for what's familiar, comfortable.

“the king of chefs and the chef of kings”

"Prepare at the table as much of the meal as possible."

- Georges-Auguste Escoffier, [1846 - 1935]

On teamwork

                                

                                   Who built Thebes of the 7 gates ? 

In the books you will read the names of kings. 
Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock ? 

And Babylon, many times demolished, 
Who raised it up so many times ? 

In what houses of gold glittering Lima did its builders live? 

Where, the evening that the Great Wall of China was finished, did the masons go?

Great Rome is full of triumphal arches. 
Who erected them ? 

Over whom did the Caesars triumph? 

Had Byzantium, much praised in song, only palaces for its inhabitants ? 

Even in fabled Atlantis, the night that the ocean engulfed it, 
The drowning still cried out for their slaves. 

The young Alexander conquered India.
Was he alone ? 

Caesar defeated the Gauls. 
Did he not even have a cook with him ? 

Philip of Spain wept when his armada went down. 
Was he the only one to weep ?  

Frederick the 2nd won the 7 Years War. 
Who else won it ? 

Every page a victory. 
Who cooked the feast for the victors ? 

Every 10 years a great man. 
Who paid the bill ? 

So many reports.  

So many questions.

Bertholt Brecht [1898-1956]