Richard Branson

I wanted to be an editor or a journalist, I wasn’t really interested in being an entrepreneur, but I soon found I had to become an entrepreneur in order to keep my magazine going.

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

Well, I think that there’s a very thin dividing line between success and failure. And I think if you start a business without financial backing, you’re likely to go the wrong side of that dividing line.

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

It’s all too easy to miss out on the important moments in life because you’re too busy staring at your phone.

If your dreams don’t scare you they are too small.

The best of merchandise will go back to the shelf unless handled by a conscientious, tactful salesman.

This is serious business. But it doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun along the way.

Hire character. Train skill.

You can’t do this! We have an arrangement! We have a contract!

Burdening people with debt is an old deal not a new deal.

Depressions aren’t acts of God; like wars, they are the work of a small group of men who profit by them.

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.

Nations are great as they are prosperous as they are industrious as they are just.

If you go through some big corporate change, it’s just not going to be the same. If we sold to Yahoo, they would have done something different; if you want to continue your vision of the company, then don’t sell because there’s inevitably going to be some change.

Chris and I came from nothing. We’re selfmade. We started with nothing, so we have nothing to lose. And we have everything to gain.

No king on earth is as safe in his job as a Trade Union official. There is only one thing that can get him sacked; and that is drink. Not even that, as long as he doesn’t actually fall down.

Clock watchers never seem to be having a good time.

As members of the Ford Motor organization we are engaged in the production of an article of use for the people of all countries. Our principle is to make our work as profitable for the buyer as for the seller.

Profits are not financial-they’re social. Everybody profits from industry. Politicians don’t understand profits because they can pay bills out of taxation.

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.