It's amazing how pervasive¹ food is. Every second commercial is for food. Every second TV episode takes place around a meal. In the city, you can't go ten feet without seeing or smelling a restaurant. There are 20 foot high hamburgers up on billboards². I am acutely aware of food, and its omnipresence is astounding³.

Adam Scott, The Monkey Chow Diaries, June 2006

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper⁴.

Adelle Davis (1904 - 1974)

We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.

Adelle Davis (1904 - 1974)

Although I have been prevented by outward circumstances from observing a strictly⁵ vegetarian⁶ diet, I have long been an adherent⁷ to the cause in principle. Besides agreeing with the aims of vegetarianism⁸ for aesthetic⁹ and moral reasons, it is my view that a vegetarian manner of living by its purely¹⁰ physical effect on the human temperament¹¹ would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), Translation of letter to Hermann Huth, December 27, 1930

Eating is always a decision, nobody forces your hand to pick up food and put it into your mouth.

Albert Ellis, Michael Abrams, Lidia Dengelegi, The Art & Science of Rational Eating, 1992

Fat is a barrier, a bellicose¹² statement to others that, to some, justifies¹³ hostility¹⁴ in kind. The world says to the fat person, "Your fatness is an affront¹⁵ to me, so we have the right to treat you as offensively as you appear." Fat is not merely viewed as another type of tissue, but as a diagnostic sign, a personal statement, and a measure of personality. Too little fat and we see you as being antisocial, fearful and sexless. Too much fat and we see you as slothful, stupid, and sexually hung up.

Albert Ellis, Michael Abrams, Lidia Dengelegi, The Art & Science of Rational Eating, 1992

Fat people, it is commonly held, should be punished because they offend our aesthetic sensibilities. They take up too much space on subways, buses, airplanes, and elevators. They consume more than they contribute to society. They become ill and need to be taken care of, or they die early and their families are left unsupported. The only way fat people can gain some acceptance and forgiveness for their crime of overeating is to at least try, or look like they are trying, to lose weight. They must never eat an ice cream cone¹⁷ in public, never be seen eating a normal sized portion of non-diet food!

Albert Ellis, Michael Abrams, Lidia Dengelegi, The Art & Science of Rational Eating, 1992

Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good.

Alice May Brock

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.

Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755 - 1826), The Physiology¹⁸ of Taste, 1825

The moral virtues¹⁹, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit.

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

Health food makes me sick.

Calvin Trillin (1935 - )

The most remarkable²⁰ thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers²¹. The original meal has never been found.

Calvin Trillin (1935 - )

Subdue²² your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered human nature.

Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870)

I no longer prepare food or drink with more than one ingredient.

Cyra McFadden

Eating is really one of your indoor sports. You play three times a day, and it's well worth while to make the game as pleasant as possible.

Dorothy Draper

My ability to tolerate shame, to compartmentalize it, to swallow it, increased right along with my belt size. it came with the territory of being heavy. Obese²³ people have a lifetime of experience with shame.

Edward Ugel, I'm With Fatty: Losing Fifty Pounds in Fifty Miserable²⁴ Weeks, 2010

The people who can most successfully lose weight and maintain a healthy life style are foodies. When it comes to healthy eating, people who know how to cook and make ingredients taste good have a distinct advantage over those who can't.

Edward Ugel, I'm With Fatty: Losing Fifty Pounds in Fifty Miserable Weeks, 2010

He who comes first, eats first. [Familiar as: First come first served.]

Eike von Repkow (~1220), Sachsenspiegel

Bear in mind that you should conduct yourself in life as at a feast.

Epictetus (55 AD - 135 AD)

Preach not to others what they should eat, but eat as becomes you, and be silent.

Epictetus (55 AD - 135 AD)

I have never cared much for fish - it floats in the belly²⁵ as much as in the pond.

Erica Eisdorfer, The Wet Nurse's Tale, 2009

If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite²⁶ things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony.

Fernand Point

Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

Fran Lebowitz (1950 - )

My favorite animal is steak.

Fran Lebowitz (1950 - )

Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.

G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

Just as animal research tells us that gluttony and sloth¹⁶ are side effects of a drive to accumulate body fat, it also says that eating in moderation and being physically²⁷ active (literally, having the energy to exercise) are not evidence of moral rectitude. Rather, they're the metabolic²⁸ benefits of a body that's programmed to remain lean.

Gary Taubes, Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It, 2010

We don't get fat because we overeat; we overeat because we're getting fat.

Gary Taubes, Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It, 2010

Good food ends with good talk.

Geoffrey Neighor, Northern Exposure, Duets, 1993

There is no love sincerer than the love of food.

George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950), Man and Superman (1903) act 1

What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn't much better than tedious disease.

George Dennison Prentice