Al Roker Quotations

I love cooking for myself and cooking for my family.

In the pregnancy process I have come to realize how much of the burden is on the female partner. She's got a construction zone going on in her belly.

Never say 'no' to pie. No matter what, wherever you are, diet-wise or whatever, you know what? You can always have a small piece of pie, and I like pie. I don't know anybody who doesn't like pie. If somebody doesn't like pie, I don't trust them. I'll bet you Vladimir Putin doesn't like pie.

Always be yourself. At the end of the day, that's all you've really got; when you strip everything down, that's all you've got, so always be yourself.

Tuesday nights are sushi nights, so we go out then.

In our society leaving baby with Daddy is just one step above leaving the kids to be raised by wolves or apes.

The best way to get anybody's attention is dinner. I have good kitchen skills and good grocery shopping skills.

People who are overweight don't want unsolicited advice. Guess what. We know we're fat. We live in homes with mirrors.

I'd probably say my biggest yo-yo was when I was finishing up my senior year of college. I lost about 100 pounds and within a year gained it all back.

I know I need to exercise. For some people, exercise is like breathing; for others, like me, it takes effort. Exercising is what I need for my metabolism and for a better sense of well-being.

There is no quick fix. At the end of the day, you still have to do the work to maintain your weight. It can't be a diet. You have to change your life.

I always did the cooking at home, and we always tried for balance. We've been vigilant about how and what our kids eat. For example, my son would just as soon go for the grapes as he would the chips... and the chips are baked.

I don't consider myself a food person. I'm no Bobby Flay. I'm no Emeril or Paula Deen, and I'm certainly not Rachael Ray.

If I was having a bad day, eating was like self-medicating. But if you abuse food, you still have to use that substance that you abuse every day. You have to learn to use it responsibly.

I have been blessed with working with the best in the business.

You can't go wrong with relatively simple comfort food. It's also about ease. Some cook to impress. I cook for people to enjoy the food.

I get bitter, angry and disbelieving and I tell my kids there a lot of idiots out there. I also want them to know that being successful is not the real world - that their parents get treated better because they're on TV.

I have one of those Garmin watches, and I'm OCD about downloading my runs no matter where I go. I used it on an 18-mile run in Paris, a 12-miler in the mountains of Montana, a couple of runs in the Bahamas. Wherever I am, I try to run. That's what's so great about it.

Last year, when we were in Mobile, Al., covering Hurricane Ivan, we heard the stories of poor people, many of them black stranded downtown because they had no way out.

Never give up your day job. I do all sorts of things, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to The Today Show, and I love doing this thing, and they will have to blow me out of here with dynamite before I leave.

They wrapped her up like a baby burrito to show to Mom. Here were a mother and her daughter and I love them both so much. I couldn't wait for Courtney to come to the hospital so I could have all my women together.

My first college roommate greeted me with a shocked silence followed by, 'So... you're black.'

A massive state and federal effort, the likes of which we've never seen is going to be needed. We can do it for tsunami victims half a world away. We can do it for our own citizens.

When Courtney's mother and I first separated I tried to be Disney Dad, showering her with gifts, trips and then I snapped out of it. You don't have to try to impress your kids. If they're not getting what they need from you, they will let you know.

I was just thrilled to get the gig to begin with. Ten years later to still have it is not only thrilling but also somewhat of a puzzlement.

Watching the scenes out of New Orleans, if you turn down the sound it could be the Sudan or any Third World country. But it's not. it's the United States of America.

I'm a normal guy. I'm not a chef.

People who would never think of dealing in racial or sexual stereotypes will still throw in a fat joke because it's still OK. Really?

Because you're fat, you feel that everybody's watching every bite you take. So, you closet-eat, and you think because nobody sees you eating, then you're not eating. You know, if you're eating a Big Mac in a closed car, can anybody hear you nosh? If I ate only what people saw me eat, I would've probably been about 170 pounds.

I think dads let babies take more of a risk, maybe bounce off a bed more or jump off a couch or do more risk-taking things.

I used to look at a pint of Haagen-Dazs and call it a serving size.

We try to eat at home four or five days a week.

You're so focused on this child, you can sometimes forget about you as a couple, and that's just as important.

I asked him if he ever hung out with black guys in high school and he said, 'Well, no. They always had these angry looks on their faces. Who wouldn't look ticked off having to deal with nitwits like him?

I grew up with my grandparents around. I think that's important for a child. If for no other reason than to hear stories about their parents when they were children.

I just started running as part of a nutrition program, to just get a little cardio in, but I was not a runner per se before that. I started about March 1 of 2010.

I try to get in two runs during the week, after the 'Today' show, probably around 1 or 2 o'clock, Tuesday, Thursday. Then Saturday or Sunday, I do my longer runs and try to do it in the morning.

I would say that children are more resilient than you realize, and that as long as you love them, there is no right way to raise your children. You have to find your own way. It's your way and it's your child.

My old modus operandi was, if you're going to have a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich, don't have one, have two. If you're going to have vanilla wafers, you have the whole box.

What I try to do is that when I'm at home, I'm at home. We're working hard at putting away our devices and not taking calls. Sometimes, you have to, but I'll say, 'Look guys, I've got to take this call, but when I'm done, I'm all yours. I just need 20 minutes.'

When I was in Greenough, Montana, I came across a bear cub. I was off this path, and I thought, If there's a bear cub, that means there's a mother bear somewhere nearby. So I doubled back. If I'd kept going, I'm sure they would have eventually found my sneakers, and that's about it.

When it comes to dieting, I'm the kind of person that likes to be told what to do. I don't like to count points, etc. I don't want to have a lot of choices.

When you've got a teenager and a pre-teen, especially a son and a daughter, and they're going at each other at the table, all you really want is just five minutes of quiet, but sometimes I have a moment during the chaos when I think, 'Yes, this is good.'

Wait till you see what comes out of the water,

My first college roommate greeted me with a shocked silence followed by, 'So. . .you're black.

I've never been part of anything so great as those three kids.

If somehow every volunteer vanished tomorrow, so much of this country would come to a standstill: schools, hospitals and libraries. You can't name an institution that doesn't depend on volunteers.

We already had an adopted daughter, 10-year-old Courtney, from my previous marriage. To me, there is no difference between 'natural' and 'adopted.' My own childhood showed me that when it comes to loving your kids, concepts like that don't apply. I was the oldest of six, and three of my siblings were adopted. Mom and Dad even took in foster children. 'There are no limits to how much you can love,' Dad always said.

I don't make plans, because life is short and unpredictable - much like the weather!

None of us can worry about that, because it's not something we can control.

I have done nothing I'm ashamed of. I'm not Katie, Matt or Ann. I do some sillier stuff. Like a newspaper, there's serious stuff and there's the lighter stuff. I'm proud of the role I play on the 'Today' show.

For me, whether it's in a book or on T.V., a recipe has to be simple. I have a short attention span, so to open a cookbook and see a recipe that goes on for three to four pages, well, I've lost interest.

Truth be told, I didn't want to be on T.V. I was going to be a writer or producer or a director, and at the end of my sophomore year, my department chairman put me up for a job doing weekend weather in Syracuse, New York.

I sent one last e-mail four months ago,

The sandwich is good, ... although I would rather have alfalfa sprouts. We're negotiating.

In this case, there is plenty of blame to go around. And the people who pay the price are the ones who can least afford to pay it.

How could this happen? How could the city, the state and the federal governments be some unprepared? it wasn't like there weren't warnings.

All middle-income families use carbs to stretch meals, across any ethnic group - whether it's kugel or rice and beans or macaroni and cheese. I remember having pancakes for dinner. But as kids, we thought, 'Breakfast for dinner? This is great.'

And if you do not watch the show, she knows 17 different ways to kill you with a paper clip. That's television!