Richard Branson

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

I believe in benevolent dictatorship provided I am the dictator.

A touch of the jitters sharpens the mind, gets the adrenaline flowing and helps you to focus.

My philosophy is that if I have any money I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around.

Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.

The music industry is a strange combination of having real and intangible assets: pop bands are brand names in themselves, and at a given stage in their careers their name alone can practically gaurantee hit records.

When prices go up, business goes down.

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.

I may be kindly, I am ordinarily gentle, but in my line of business I am obliged to will terribly what I will at all.

Employers only handle the money – it is the customer who pays the wages.

We decided not to show One Hyde Park til we were 100% ready. A lot of people open the doors too early.

Nobody’s ever called me Sir Richard. Occasionally in America, I hear people saying Sir Richard and think there’s some Shakespearean play taking place. But nowhere else anyway.

[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 went to business school. I was just bumbling through a lot of my life. I was like the guy behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz.

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

Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.

The best way to make money in business is not to think too much about making it.

While I love technology and social media, a text or a tweet can never replace the real value of conversation.

I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.

Mark my word: A combination airplane and motor car is coming.

My mother taught me to love my work. I learned everything about business from her.