Toby Young Quotes

Oddly, I do have a problem with authority. I find it very difficult to knuckle down and follow rules. Which are the classic symptoms of someone who has a troubled relationship with their father. And yet, I never had a problem with my father.

I tried being a mechanic and I tried catering, but I realized I had even less aptitude for semi-skilled labour than for academic work.

The moment I’m perceived to be even a tiny bit successful, my career will go down the pan.

I think I’ve been wishing for celebrity for so long that I’ve got used to being someone who’s petitioning the establishment for acceptance… my whole schtick, my whole identity, is so wrapped up in being a petitioner that I don’t really know how to react now that petition has been granted.

People in London think of London as the center of the world, whereas New Yorkers think the world ends three miles outside of Manhattan.

‘Top Chef’ is a very smooth-running machine. All the people working there are incredibly professional and absolutely at the top of their game.

There’s no reason why you can’t deliver a grammar-school curriculum to an all-ability intake.

I really like the Observer. I think I’d love to have a column with a broad reach that would enable me to do some proper reporting, but keep it on sort of a humorous level. I’ve always had a very happy experience writing for them.

I swear, I didn’t really go in thinking, ‘I’ll be the Simon Cowell’ of ‘Top Chef.’ I was just used to being a judge on British food shows where people are much more outspoken and rather rude. That’s the culture over here.

I wouldn’t describe myself as a master of anything.

I miss being fawned over by restaurateurs and chefs.

In Britain, by contrast, we still think that class plays a part in determining a person’s life chances, so we’re less inclined to celebrate success and less inclined to condemn failure. The upshot is that it’s much easier to be a failure in Britain than it is in America.

I think that magazines like Vanity Fair are still operating under the old rules, and that if you come to work for a magazine like Vanity Fair, even today, you’re certainly expected to treat people like Peggy Siegal very deferentially.

You know when you tell a self-deprecating story at a dinner party, everyone’s laughing along with you? But then when someone else repeats that same story at another dinner party you feel they’re all laughing at you?

If anything bad happens, the media will leap on it. We’re under a huge obligation to be successful.