Richard Branson Quotes And Sayings

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He founded the Virgin Group, which controls more than 400 companies. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. At the age of sixteen his first business venture was a magazine called Student. In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores. For his work in retail, music and transport, his taste for adventure, and for his humanitarian work, he became one of the most prominent figures in British culture.

You Don't Learn To Walk By Following Rules. You Learn By Doing, And By Falling Over.

I Believe In Benevolent Dictatorship Provided I Am The Dictator.

Space Has Always Fascinated Me. As A Young Boy Looking Up At The Stars, I Found It Impossible To Resist Thinking What Was Out There And If I Ever Would Experience Space First-hand.

Treat Failure As A Lesson On How Not To Approach Achieving A Goal, And Then Use That Learning To Improve Your Chances Of Success When You Try Again. Failure Is Only The End If You Decide To Stop.

Every Successful Businessman Will Have Experienced Set-backs And Failures - They're Lying If They Say They Haven't. Virgin Has Had Some Tremendously Successful Businesses And Some That Have Not Quite Worked Out. Virgin Cola Springs To Mind - The Product Wasn't Distinct Enough From Coca-cola.

Had I Pursued My Education Long Enough To Learn All The Conventional Dos And Don'ts Of Starting A Business, I Often Wonder How Different My Life And Career Might Have Been.

My Favorite Mode Of Transport Is Hot-air Ballooning. It's So Graceful To Be Blown By The Wind, To Go Where The Wind Takes You.

I Think It's Good For A Woman To Put On A Bit Of Weight When She Gets Older - It Looks Better. But A Man Has To Stay Balanced.

You Should Not Build Your Customer Service System On The Premise That Your Organisation Will Never Question The Whims Of Your Clients.

When I Started Virgin From A Basement In West London, There Was No Great Plan Or Strategy. I Didn't Set Out To Build A Business Empire... For Me, Building A Business Is All About Doing Something To Be Proud Of, Bringing Talented People Together And Creating Something That's Going To Make A Real Difference To Other People's Lives.

I Live Half The Year On Necker, A Tiny Island In The Caribbean, And It's Always Full Of People In Party Mode. Everyone Comes Up To The Big House, And We'll Be Dancing Until The Early Hours To The Island's Band, The Front Line.

Material Things Are Delightful, But They're Not Important.

One Thing Is Certain In Business. You And Everyone Around You Will Make Mistakes.

I Love Creating Hideaways. My Idea Is To Go To The Most Beautiful, Unspoilt Places, Buy The Land, And Make Sure It Is Never Damaged. I've Always Admired John D. Rockefeller, Who Bought Up Tracts Of Land To Ensure They Were Left Wild In Perpetuity.

As A Teenager, I Went To Bali A Lot, But It's A Long, Long Way From England. Which Is Why, When We Bought Necker Island, We Made It Like A Mini Bali.

I Love Africa, And Ulusaba, Our Home In South Africa, Is Pretty Special. It's On A Rocky Hill Overlooking The Bush, And From Your Room, You Can See Lions Stalking Zebras By The Waterhole.

I Read Everything, But Generally More Fact Than Fiction - Especially Autobiographies And Biographies. I've Read 'Long Walk To Freedom' By Nelson Mandela At Least Twice On Holiday. Every Time, I'm Totally Awed By His Vision, Strength And Forgiveness. I Feel Honoured To Have Got To Know Him And His Wonderful Wife Graca Over The Years.

I Always Love Going On A Safari Drive Whenever I Visit Ulusaba Private Game Reserve In South Africa. I've Been Fortunate To See So Many Incredible Animals Over The Years, And Each Time, It's Completely Different. Following Ulusaba's Pack Of Wild Dogs Is My Highlight.

Devon Holds A Special Place In My Heart. As A Child, I Normally Went On Holiday To Bantham And Have Lots Of Happy Memories From My Time There. I Used To Catch Sand Eels In The Early Morning And Go Fishing For Bass Throughout The Day. I Remember A Gull Taking My Bait.

I Love Travelling Full Stop - So While I've Had Some Harrowing Instances, I Never Look At Them Negatively. Memories Are Made When You're Travelling - Not When You're Chained To Your Desk.

I Love To Dance, But My Children Tell Me I Shouldn't. Can't See Why.

If You Want To Be A Millionaire, Start With A Billion Dollars And Launch A New Airline.

In This Digital Age, It Doesn't Really Matter If You Are In Canary Wharf Or The Caribbean; There Are Opportunities Waiting To Be Grasped By Entrepreneurs.

I Love Notting Hill And Westbourne Grove - There Is So Much Life And Vitality Around Portobello And Ladbroke Grove. It Has Come Up A Lot Since I Started Virgin More Than 40 Years Ago, But There Is So Much Character.

People From All Over The World Come To London Wanting To Make Their Own Mark On It, And They Add To The Energy And Vitality Of The Capital. It's Got A Bit Busier Since The '60s, But The More The Merrier!

When Exploring London, You Will Come Across Lots Of Excitement By Chance, So Try To Take Everything In Rather Than Just Rushing Around To All Of The Major Tourist Haunts.

I'm Not Sure How I'd Survive Without English Breakfast Tea. Even In The Caribbean, I Must Drink 20 Cups A Day.

A Complaint Is A Chance To Turn A Customer Into A Lifelong Friend. I Say That Seriously, Not As Some Press Release Baloney.

When I Was A Kid, I Had A Tendency To Criticize. But When I Did, My Mum Would Whisk Me Off To The Bathroom To Stand In Front Of A Mirror. Ten Minutes, Never Less. To Think About How Criticism Is A Poor Reflection On The One Who Criticizes.

Especially When You're At A High Level In An Organization, Criticism Can Be Devastating To An Employee. I Prefer To Praise Employees For What They're Doing Right, And It Tends To Lead To Them Doing More Of The Same. Not Always, But It's The Way I Choose To Bet.

The True Cost To The World Of A Burger Is Far Greater Than The Money You Hand Over To Buy It.

More Businesses Should Be Following Apple's Stance In Encouraging More Investment In Sustainability.

For A Successful Entrepreneur It Can Mean Extreme Wealth. But With Extreme Wealth Comes Extreme Responsibility. And The Responsibility For Me Is To Invest In Creating New Businesses, Create Jobs, Employ People, And To Put Money Aside To Tackle Issues Where We Can Make A Difference.

We Need Every Person On Earth To Acknowledge That Climate Change Is Real And Encourage Each Other And Our Leaders To Address The Challenge.

Taking Bold Action On Climate Change Simply Makes Good Business Sense. It's Also The Right Thing To Do For People And The Planet. Setting A Net-zero Ghg Emissions Target By 2050 Will Drive Innovation, Grow Jobs, Build Prosperity, And Secure A Better World For What Will Soon Be 9 Billion People.

From My Very First Day As An Entrepreneur, I've Felt The Only Mission Worth Pursuing In Business Is To Make People's Lives Better.

Those Who Know Me Know I'm Passionate About Lists, And Top Of My List Of Priorities Is My Family. My Wife Joan And I Do Not Consider Our Legacy To Our Children To Be Wealth Or Fame But The Opportunity To Pursue Happiness By Following Their Own Path.

When Brexiters Told The Public That People Were Exaggerating, That There Would Be A Financial Meltdown, I Think It's Been Proven That They Were Not Exaggerating.

An Important Priority For Me Is A Business Must Get Their Own House In Order. Be Or Become An Agent Of Positive Change In Your Own Enterprise And Adopt Responsible Practices To Eliminate The Risks That Often Lie At The Root Of Inequality And Poverty.

At Virgin, We Have Always Backed The Power Of The Entrepreneur And Inventor To Find Solutions To Tricky Problems. Why Should Climate Change And The Battle Against Carbon Be Any Different?

I Think It's Quite Great To Set Yourself A Big Challenge, And Then You've Got Another Reason For Keeping Fit.

The Funny Thing Is People Won't Let Me Pay For Things. I'll Be In A Restaurant And The Manager Will Say, 'Oh No, It's On The House.'

To Me, Business Isn't About Wearing Suits Or Pleasing Stockholders. It's About Being True To Yourself, Your Ideas And Focusing On The Essentials.

My Father Ted Fought In North Africa, Italy, And Germany During World War Ii. My Grandfather Survived The Horrors Of The Trenches In World War I. I Truly Believe That One Of The E.u.'s Greatest Achievements Is That It Has Kept Its Members Out Of Conflict In Europe.

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.

I Love The Freedom Of Movement That My Phone Gives Me. That Has Definitely Transformed My Life.

The Balloons Only Have One Life And The Only Way Of Finding Out Whether They Work Is To Attempt To Fly Around The World.

I Cannot Remember A Moment In My Life When I Have Not Felt The Love Of My Family. We Were A Family That Would Have Killed For Each Other - And We Still Are.

You Never Know With These Things When You're Trying Something New What Can Happen. This Is All Experimental.

And You Know, I've Had Great Fun Turning Quite A Lot Of Different Industries On Their Head And Making Sure Those Industries Will Never Be The Same Again, Because Virgin Went In And Took Them On.