Roman Abramovich

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

When I started to make more or less serious money – for those times – then, of course, I wanted to show everyone that life is different: it’s a new kind of life; we are earning this money. We wanted to pay taxes and live honestly.

I was never involved in arms trading. In the Russian Federation, arms trading is the prerogative of the state.

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.

It’s a new endeavour for me. I’ve never run a territory. I’ve never talked publicly to people. I’ve got to try it just to see whether I like it.

The Holocaust was a crime without parallel in history, and I am proud to launch an initiative to raise awareness of and to tackle anti-Semitism in all its forms. This is the start of an important journey and we all have a part to play.

The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.

The union organizers are asking us to sit still while it sells our men the jobs that have always been free.

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

I think everybody thought I was crazy that I quit my job and started a management company in which I was managing one client – Laura Nyro.

I was the most productive when I was in a flex situation. Do not check for me for needless meetings.

I don’t know the rules of grammar. If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.

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

What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.

If you need a machine and don’t buy it, then you will ultimately find that you have paid for it and don’t have it.

As a rule, we find what we look for; we achieve what we get ready for.

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

When most people ask about a business growing, what they really mean is growing revenue, not just growing the number of people using a service. Traditional businesses would view people using your service that you don’t make money from as a cost.

I avoid clients for whom advertising is only a marginal factor in their marketing mix. They have an awkward tendency to raid their advertising appropriations whenever they need cash for other purposes.

In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.