David Geffen

It’s not a very big thing to say, ‘I made a mistake’ on the war, and typical of Hillary Clinton that she can’t.

Are you threatening me? If you so much as touch me I’ll have you arrested!

[On his mother’s adversity] She had a very difficult beginning… All of my mothers family were killed… and she came to America at the time of the depression. It was not an easy life at all.

We all die unhealed

When we first started DreamWorks, I said to Jeffrey, ‘We ought to call this new company the Spielberg Brothers. Anything Steven thinks is important, we want to invest in.

While several parties have expressed interest in buying the company, I’m not shopping it, I haven’t sold it and I’m not about to sell it.

Our clients pay for value. London is the top city in the world, the best tax haven in the world for some and the top residential site in the city is One Hyde Park at the top end of Sloane Street.

Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs.

The other people I don’t take too seriously are the critics-except when they stand in the way of my projects. In my opinion, they mostly write to impress each other, and they’re just as swayed by fashions as anyone else. One week it’s spare glass towers they are praising to the skies. The next week, they’ve rediscovered old, and they’re celebrating detail and ornamentation.

It’s true we’ve got some fantastic clients. We’re very fortunate to be connected with the movers and shakers of all the global cities of the world. You can usually tell when we’ve got a client in here because their bodyguards are all over the place: two outside the front door, two in the lobby, one in the lift…

Salesmanship is limitless. Our very living is selling. We are all salespeople.

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

…capitalism does live by crises and booms, just as a human being lives by inhaling and exhaling.

First, make yourself a reputation for being a creative genius. Second, surround yourself with partners who are better than you are. Third, leave them to go get on with it.

There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50 per cent more readers.

When you are in real estate, you are going to make some mistakes.

Edison, to a greater extent than has ever been recognized, is the father of American industrial methods.

There should be rivalry between men and between business.

About half my time is spent on business operation type stuff.

I get my design inspiration from Christian Dior and Chanel.

The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication, and clear communication is necessary to management success.