David Geffen

[To a psychedelic rock sextet call Strawberry Alarm Clock] We’re going to get you six Ed Sullivan shows and we’re going to get you on Janis Joplin’s next tour. [After the meeting on being told by Schiffman ‘David, what are you doing? Six Ed Sullivan shows? Are you kidding? Janis Joplin wouldn’t piss on these people! We are not going to give them any Janis Joplin dates’] If they have another hit, we’ll get them one Ed Sullivan show, and we’ll get them a couple of dates on somebody else’s tour. I don’t care. And if they don’t have another hit, well, f*ck ’em.

What is the one thing that I could do to help you?

You can’t interview my brother!… We can call this thing off – right now!

In the end, you’re just a renter anyway. You only own these things for as long as you live. After that, who knows? If I live until I’m 80, I’ll have 30 more years of collecting. If the collection is big enough, I’ll build a museum. And if not, I’ll leave it to a museum.

My greatest fear is getting bored.

I believe we’re all in denial about the people we love.

It is regrettable that people think about our monetary system, and of our economic structure, only in times of depression.

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.

Every man must decide for himself whether he shall master his world or be mastered by it.

To be most effective in sales today, it’s imperative to drop your ‘sales’ mentality and start working with your prospects as if they’ve already hired you.

Only a fool never changes his mind.

If you can run one business well, you can run any business well.

It took only 10 minutes to do Chelsea deal with Roman Abramovich but I had to Google him first … I wasn’t sure if Jeremy Beadle was going to jump out.

A merchant who approaches business with the idea of serving the public well has nothing to fear from the competition.

I have very good executives and great children. They’re very good.

What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.

The highest use of capital is not to make more money, but to make money do more for the betterment of life.

Investors are visionaries in some respects – they look beyond the present.

[on Steve jobs] Our relationship was based almost always on him calling up and asking, ‘Is this a good deal?’ I’m not in his business, and I wasn’t trying to be. I was just a guy who admired him a lot and was flattered he wanted my advice.

Once you have a product that you are happy with, you the need to centralize things to continue growth.

What is virtue but the Trade Unionism of the married?