David Geffen

[On urging Nyro to tell Barbara Streisand that ‘Wedding Bell Blues’ had been personally written for her] It’s not a big lie.

I’m not Sammy Glick. I’ve never killed anyone. I don’t have to. I’m too talented.

There has always been a tremendous obsession with television and movie stars, and with the people involved with the business.

I thought I’d be a success even back in the mailroom at William Morris. It was just inconceivable to me I couldn’t win it all.

[On his first job in the mailroom of William Morris a casting agency] It was the first time in the my life that I thought ‘I can do that.’

I never thought that I would have a career in show business…

We’ve created a recognisable brand that has the ability to be the Louis Vuitton of our era.

There is a time and place for all things to be successful. There is fate and destiny and opportunity, and you need all three things in line at the same time.

The main job of the entrepreneur is to define the mission, find and inspire the team, and lead.

A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.

I never made any public statements, at least I tried never to make any public statements. I know I don’t do it well, I become very nervous, I forget what it is that I mean to say, I can’t really convey my logic and my thought to the journalists, so I decided this is not my thing, I really shouldn’t be doing it.

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

Can advertising foist an inferior product on the consumer? Bitter experience has taught me that it cannot. On those rare occasions when I have advertised products which consumer tests have found inferior to other products in the same field, the results have been disastrous.

They encouraged me to always look for the good in people instead of assuming the worst and trying to find fault.

Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon.

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.

Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect.

We have a very open culture at the company, where we foster a lot of interaction between not just me and people but between everyone else. It’s an open floor plan. People have these desks where no one really has an office. I mean, I have a room where I meet with people. But it has all glass, so everyone can see into it and see what’s going on.

Building a brand may be more important than building a business.

I have no Napoleonic dream. I’m just hard working and pragmatic.

Our aim is to compete with any luxury brand. Candy & Candy will be a luxury brand, recognised in Rodeo Drive, New York, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and London. Those are the major centres in the world. It will be synonymous with the design of homes, houses, flats, yachts, aircraft and retail.