Richard Branson

Only a fool never changes his mind.

A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.

It is only by being bold that you get anywhere. If you are a risk-taker, then the art is to protect the downside.

I was dyslexic, I had no understanding of schoolwork whatsoever. I certainly would have failed IQ tests. And it was one of the reasons I left school when I was 15 years old. And if I – if I’m not interested in something, I don’t grasp it.

You don’t learn to walk by following rules, you learn by doing and by falling over.

If you’re bringing up kids, you just want to smother them with love and praise and enthusiasm. So I don’t think you can mollycoddle your kids too much really.

Although Mr. Edison was called ‘The Wizard’ of the electrical world and everyone thought that electricity was the coming thing, he actually encouraged me to go with my second car.

No matter what his position or experience in life, there is in everyone more latent than developed ability; far more unused than used power.

I remember flying in, driving down 101 in a cab, and passing by all these tech companies like Yahoo! I remember thinking, ‘Maybe someday we’ll build a company. This probably isn’t it, but one day we will.’

There is no failure except failure to serve one’s purpose.

In New York and Los Angeles, you can throw your car keys to the valet and he parks it. Same in Hong Kong and Singapore, the service is off the scale. In London it’s sub-standard to abysmal.

London has got better as it’s become more international – you only have to look at the quality of the restaurants to see how improved it’s become.

Getting permanent value out of a job means purpose and fitting means to ends.

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

In business, cooperation is essential to success.

Workers – men and women – of all countries, place yourselves under the banner of the Fourth International. It is the banner of your approaching victory!

Your business, and your brand must first let people know what you care about and that you care about them.

I really don’t retain information – by the time I arrive wherever I’m going, I already forget what it is that I wanted to say.

The relationship between a manufacturer and his advertising agency is almost as intimate as the relationship between a patient and his doctor. Make sure that you can life happily with your prospective client before you accept his account.

I always look at it that I work with my employees as opposed to them working for me.

I don’t hire a lot of number-crunchers, and I don’t trust fancy marketing surveys. I do my own surveys and draw my own conclusions.

A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.