Top 50 Alan Sugar Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Once you decide to work for yourself, you never go back to work for somebody else.”

— Alan Sugar

2. “You can’t stop people printing what they want to print.”

— Alan Sugar

3. “I am tired of hustling.”

— Alan Sugar

4. “There are two fools in every marketplace; one asks too little, one asks too much.”

— Alan Sugar

5. “I don’t make enemies, it’s just I’m not afraid to speak my mind, which can sometimes mean people don’t like what I am saying.”

— Alan Sugar

6. “I have no patience at all.”

— Alan Sugar

7. “The entrepreneurial instinct is in you. You can’t learn it, you can’t buy it, you can’t put it in a bottle. It’s just there and it comes out.”

— Alan Sugar

8. “I have principles and I am not going to be forced to compromise them.”

— Alan Sugar

9. “If you enjoy what you do, don’t be afraid of expressing your enthusiasm. Enjoyment is infectious.”

— Alan Sugar

10. “Not everybody needs to go to university; they can get out and start working straight away.”

— Alan Sugar

11. “I like to be a very fair person.”

— Alan Sugar

12. “I’m a commercial person, not an academic.”

— Alan Sugar

13. “A good leader is not necessarily the most popular person in their business, but the best ones are liked because they are respected for their clarity and vision.”

— Alan Sugar

14. “Effective leadership is about earning respect, and it’s also about personality and charisma.”

— Alan Sugar

15. “Success comes more quickly to the entrepreneur that follows his instincts rather than following the progress of his competitors.”

— Alan Sugar

16. “I know you’re Belgian, that’s where those waffles come from.”

— Alan Sugar

17. “Start small and with your own money.”

— Alan Sugar

18. “I’m an Englishman. What more can I say?”

— Alan Sugar

19. “I did not come into football to make money. I had already made millions.”

— Alan Sugar

20. “I am not looking for a friend; if I want a friend I’d buy a dog.”

— Alan Sugar

21. “The boring side of business is what makes it work.”

— Alan Sugar

22. “I’ve written books on advertising-cheque books.”

— Alan Sugar

23. “My mother was a housewife. My father was a garment worker.”

— Alan Sugar

24. “Above all, in order to gain respect, you need to be true to yourself. There is no point in trying to be brutal if it’s not in your nature; there is no point in trying to be suave and sophisticated if it doesn’t come naturally.”

— Alan Sugar

25. “If there was a market in mass-produced portable nuclear weapons, we’d market them, too.”

— Alan Sugar

26. “There’s a lot of regrets about last year – maybe turning up was the biggest regret about it.”

— Alan Sugar

27. “There is a lot of luck in football. Following England is like following Wycombe Wanders or Leyton Orient. You hope for the best and hope you are lucky.”

— Alan Sugar

28. “During negotiations nothing is gained by attacking people’s comfort zones.”

— Alan Sugar

29. “An entrepreneur is not what you call yourself, it’s what someone calls you in recognition of what you’ve achieved. I call Richard Branson an entrepreneur. Rupert Murdoch called me one. Anybody who stands up and says: ‘I’m an entrepreneur’ needs shooting. You’ll drive people crazy.”

— Alan Sugar

30. “I find it strange that Gisela Gschaider a 1974 immigrant from Germany is on the brexit panel telling us British what we should do .”

— Alan Sugar

31. “Money is all right but once you have it you learn it’s not the be all and end all.”

— Alan Sugar

32. “If you lock me in the room with a piano teacher for a year I might be able to knock out a rendition of ‘Roll Out The Barrel,’ but will I ever be a concert pianist? No.”

— Alan Sugar

33. “Well, there’s nothing I’ve done I’m not proud of. Making money was an interest, but it’s never been my god.”

— Alan Sugar

34. “Don’t try to blame the rest of the world. The blame only lies with you. Recognize that immediately.”

— Alan Sugar

35. “My history of lending money from banks is that they want to know the ins and outs of the backside of a duck.”

— Alan Sugar

36. “Nobody can honestly say that they never lie.”

— Alan Sugar

37. “My idea of government support was, you supply me with hospitals, schools and the environment to do well and that will do me fine. But do not poke your nose in my business.”

— Alan Sugar

38. “There was a desire to see me being nasty and horrible, and of course that’s not really me.”

— Alan Sugar

39. “It is torment to be segregated out because of some bit of clothing that you’re wearing.”

— Alan Sugar

40. “In America, everybody thinks they’re an entrepreneur. That’s the problem. It’s not a title that anybody should call oneself.”

— Alan Sugar

41. “Look, I’m a member of the House of Lords and I’m the first to admit that I don’t understand how one gets new laws through.”

— Alan Sugar

42. “I like things in their proper places.”

— Alan Sugar

43. “I don’t like paying 50 per cent of tax.”

— Alan Sugar

44. “I never experienced any feelings of closeness and caring from my parents.”

— Alan Sugar

45. “I don’t believe in God and all that. But I am Jewish, and very proud to be so, very proud of the culture.”

— Alan Sugar

46. “Regrettably, all the people I know in Florida don’t know about anything outside their great country. Plus they expect everyone to understand what they’re talking about.”

— Alan Sugar

47. “It will take a brave person to cull the benefits system and analyse who deserves and who doesn’t.”

— Alan Sugar

48. “I’ve just got an exceptional memory, if I say so myself.”

— Alan Sugar

49. “I get angry when people bring derisory actions against me.”

— Alan Sugar

50. “I got on a high believing everything I would produce was going to sell at the rate I wanted.”

— Alan Sugar