“I truly believe that capitalism was created to help people live better lives, but sadly over the years it has lost its way a bit. The short-term focus on profit has driven most businesses to forget about the important long-term role they have in taking care of people and the planet.”
— Richard Branson
“I think that marijuana should be legalized. I think the only reason it isn’t legal is because politicians who smoked it when they were young men or young women just don’t have the courage when they become politicians to legalize it.”
“Having colleagues nearby, whether at the beach or in a crypt, means the ideas are always flowing.”
“There are quite a few things I’ve done that even I thought might have been one step too far. But if you are willing to make a fool of yourself and make people smile, as long as you do it with a sense of fun, you can get away with it.”
“I think business needs to have a heart and to have a heart a company must be more than just a moneymaking machine.”
“It’s clear that it is in the best interest of business to be part of the conservation, along with governments and civil society.”
“As an entrepreneur, you’ve got to protect against the company going bust. And as an adventurer, you’ve got to protect against losing your life. It’s even more important as an adventurer to get it right.”
“Because I don’t see Virgin as a company but as a way of life and I fully enjoy it, I don’t think I’ll ever retire.”
“Most people assume that a record shop’s success lies in selling records. In fact, Virgin’s success both in mail order and the record shops lay in skill at buying records.”
“Virgin could never have grown into the group of more than 200 companies it is now, were it not for a steady stream of intrapreneurs who looked for and developed opportunities, often leading efforts that went against the grain.”
“Capitalism has never stood back and examined itself properly. I think everybody knows that capitalism is the only thing that works, but is the current form of capitalism the best way of it working?”
“As men, we all have something to give. We all have the power to do our own part to stop the global pandemic of violence against women and girls. It is holding us all back.”
“First and foremost, any business proposal I like must sound fun.”
“If you are a new startup company, try not to arouse the interest or suspicion of your competition; especially if they are a bigger company. They can crush you while you are still in your startup phase. Lie low while still strengthening your bottom line.”
“Please don’t get hung up on this question of whether you need to have experience in an industry before you launch your startup.”
“In business, as in life, all that matters is that you do something positive.”
“I have learnt more from my failures than my successes.”
“You need lucky breaks to be successful.”
“By nature I am curious about life, and this extends to my business.”
“Whatever business you are in, every company can shoot for the start in their own way.”
“Fortunately we’re not a public company – we’re a private group of companies, and I can do what I want.”
“New York to Tokyo could be less than an hour. You could be traveling at 19,000 miles per hour orbitally. After we’ve done the space program, we will be producing supersonic planes, which will go far, far, faster than Concorde.”
“I had no plans to be an entrepreneur. I just wanted to be a journalist and write for a magazine. At 15, I just decided to leave school and launch a national student magazine.”
“I think a lot of becoming an entrepreneur is something which people have to learn just from getting out there and giving it a go, and having to learn the art of survival.”
“We, we – as I say, we go in and shake up other industries and I think, you know, we do it differently and I think that industries are not quite the same as a result of Virgin attacking the market.”
“If you do something for fun and create the best possible product, then the profit will come.”
“My mother was determined to make us independent. When I was four years old, she stopped the car a few miles from our house and made me find my own way home across the fields. I got hopelessly lost.”
“If you have an idea that’s going to make a big difference to people’s lives, and other people are not doing it, you know, just say “screw it,” do it and get on with it, and give it a go.”
“A generation ago, the image was that you had to trample everyone else down to succeed; but I don’t believe that makes good business sense.”
“The risk is worth it. Mike would have been the first to say that.”
“I think you should do in life what you think you’ll make a real difference at. And generally, as a businessperson, you do things you don’t really have experience in.”
“You’re offering a great service. People are tuning in. So continue to find great people, continue to do what you’re doing. And do it better than your rivals. I know that’s easier said than done...”
“I never set out to be a businessman.”
“If you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it. You must love what you do.”
“I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive then I believe you are better off not doing it. A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.”
“Although my spelling is still sometimes poor, I have managed to overcome the worst of my difficulties through training myself to concentrate.”
“I always tell other people to protect against the downside, and not risk roughing on new ventures, but I never stuck to that rule myself.”
“We must rapidly wean ourselves off our dependence on coal and fossil fuels.”
“If you look for the best in your employees, they’ll flourish. If you criticize or look for the worst, they’ll shrivel up. We all need lots of watering.”
“I just love every minute of my life. I love the variety. Every minute of every day I’m meeting fascinating new people, learning and working with wonderful teams of people creating wonderful things.”
“I think entrepreneurship is our natural state – a big adult word that probably boils down to something much more obvious like playfulness.”
“I don’t think so, in that Virgin is already a global brand. Brands like Amazon have had to spend hundreds of millions of pounds you know, building their brands, whereas Virgin is already well-known around the world.”
“I think I’ve learned that if you have a house, you end up living in the kitchen, so if you have one big kitchen and then enough bedrooms for your family, that’s about all you need for a home.”
“All you have in life is your reputation: you may be very rich, but if you lose your good name, then you’ll never be happy. The thought will always lurk at the back of your mind that people don’t trust you.”
“Clearly in the eyes of the consumer; the brand has not been diluted, but we must guard against that happening at all costs.”
“I think you can get happiness through making a real difference in other people’s lives by setting out to make other people’s lives better and setting out to right the wrongs in the world.”
“About 40 percent of my time is spent on social issues and building new organizations, more for the benefit of the climate or health issues.”
“First of all, if you’re setting up a new company, you want to try to find a brand that can work on a global basis.”
“If a chairman of a company visits Seattle, that chairman should take all the staff out in the evening and have a few drinks together, talk together and party together and not be embarrassed about the staff seeing the weaker side of you.”
“Well, the odds must be against anybody being able to fly around the world in a balloon on the first attempt. All of us who are attempting to go around the world in balloons are effectively flying in experimental craft because these craft cannot be tested.”
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