Paula Deen Quotes

You don't want to make a steady diet of just lettuce. You don't want to make a steady diet of fried chicken.

Stone-ground grits are wonderful, but because they take so long to cook, I usually go with quick cooking grits - which I also love. But I never make the instant kind - some things a Southerner just won't do!

Love is like smiling, it never fades and is contagious.

Chicken breast is the driest, [most] tasteless part of the chicken as far as I'm concerned.

Life is too short to wonder where you hid your waffle maker.

Change doesn’t happen overnight. It starts with the desire, then one small step in the right direction.

I know I can cook, but the place where I cook... it's a mess! I'm very disorganized.

Would I have fired me? Knowing me? No.

I don't want to spend my life not having good food going into my pie hole. That hole was made for pies.

When it's said and done, the one thing I want to leave on this earth is hope. I have felt hopelessness, and it's a terrible feeling. Hopelessness will destroy you. I want to bring hope to other people.

I'm so glad I'm not a dentist. How many times does someone say, 'Oh, Doc, it felt so good when you were drilling my teeth'? Never. But when you give someone a wonderful cookie, you put a little of yourself in, and you see someone's face light up - that's immediate approval.

You know, I understand that a lot of people, especially up north, put fruits and nuts in their stuffing, which is good, but for myself personally, I love an old-timey savory dressing.

I pay people very, very well - probably more than I have to. But that costs me less money in the long run because I'm not having to constantly train somebody. I pay them enough that they don't go seeking a higher scale at the next restaurant.

I am proud to be a Southerner.

If you have a dream, FOLLOW IT.

It wasnt until I was a sophomore in high school that I asked Mama if I could come into the kitchen and have her teach me how to cook something. Well, I wasnt in there five minutes before she said, OK, honey, you have to go now. I made her so nervous she was about ready to throw up. So I really didnt have an interest in being in the kitchen until after I was married, when I was 18. It didnt take me long to realize that Mama was not going to show up at my house every day and cook.

Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener.

Don't ever give up. You can't let discouragement get you down. You can always find negative people that will try to discourage you from your goals. You can't be discouraged, and you can't let the word "no" stop you.

I am living proof that the American dream still exists. It is still alive and well. There is only one trick, you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and work very, very hard.

You can have diabetes and have a piece of cake. You cannot have diabetes and eat a whole cake.

I found that when I went from Albany to Savannah, that I needed to put that white rice away, and I needed to turn that into Savannah red rice because they were big into that sausage, tomato-y, bell pepper-y rice mixture.

If you've got a good idea and you're willing to do whatever it takes to pursue it, keep your head up and eyes open because you don't know when opportunity will come knocking.

There's nothing better than being able to give your children wings so they can soar and fly in the direction they want to go in.

Having an audience is almost like plugging me into an electrical outlet. People feed me so much of their energy. We have a great time. It's all about the fellowship.

Growing up, I had a very busy social life. It wasn't until I was a sophomore in high school that I asked Mama if I could come into the kitchen and have her teach me how to cook something.

Down South, even our vegetables have some pig hidden somewhere in it. A vegetable isn't a vegetable without a little ham hock.

I'm making little changes in my life to take care of myself, like putting in a mile or two on my treadmill every day.