Roman Abramovich

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

I decided to sit quietly and do business and don’t stick your neck out and tell everybody everything belongs to me. That would only cause problems for myself. Therefore I never told these stories or declared all these things to anyone.

In my personal opinion, Russia is no less democratic than it used to be. It is a democratic country. It is democratic enough.

The goal is to win. It’s not about making money. I have many much less risky ways of making money than this (buying Chelsea football club). I don’t want to throw my money away, but it’s really about having fun and that means success and trophies.

If I had to think where I could live if not Moscow, London would be my first choice and second would be New York.

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.

This is a perverse thing, personally, but I would rather be in the cycle where people are underestimating us. It gives us latitude to go out and make big bets that excite and amaze people.

The consumer isn’t a moron. She is your wife.

There’s no better friend to any merchant than a fair competitor.

Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don’t make.

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

It was impossible to operate in the aluminium business without krysha – very real physical protection.

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.

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

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

Anyone who criticises me for talking about fair trade is a few pebbles short of a beach. Because everyone should care about it, just like everyone should care about the environment, because we all live here.

[on Steve jobs] Our relationship was based almost always on him calling up and asking, ‘Is this a good deal?’ I’m not in his business, and I wasn’t trying to be. I was just a guy who admired him a lot and was flattered he wanted my advice.

I feel that the best companies are started not because the founder wanted a company but because the founder wanted to change the world… If you decide you want to found a company, you maybe start to develop your first idea. And hire lots of workers.

Money will ruin the life of any man who treats it like anything but a tool with which to work.

The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.

A world where men ran half our homes and women ran half our institutions would be just a much better world.