Richard Branson

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.'

I was dyslexic, I had no understanding of schoolwork whatsoever. I certainly would have failed IQ tests. And it was one of the reasons I left school when I was 15 years old. And if I - if I'm not interested in something, I don't grasp it.

Starting your own business isn't just a job - it's a way of life.

On one of my last days at school, the headmaster said I would either end up in prison or become a millionaire. That was quite a startling prediction, but in some respects, he was right on both counts!

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.

Well, we know that people in Australia love the idea of both Impulse and Virgin Blue getting up and adding a bit of competition, and it's fun to be able to deliver it.

Learn to use your brain power. Critical thinking is the key to creative problem solving in business.

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.

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.

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.

What's the quickest way to become a millionaire? Borrow fivers off everyone you meet.

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.

I think, because I started Virgin when I was a teenager, it has become a part of me, like my family, and I am motivated by ambition for it, almost as if it were a child.

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.

Screw it, let’s do it.

If you find yourself stuck in the middle there is only one way to go, forward.

It's a common misconception that money is every entrepreneur's metric for success. It's not, and nor should it be.

Lightning is something which, again, we would rather avoid.

Exploration is a wonderful way to open our eyes to the world and to truly see that impossible is just a word.

The art of delegation is one of the key skills any entrepreneur must master.

With Virgin, I've just loved creating things. And as a private company, I can get away with moving Virgin from records to airlines to train companies to space companies to whatever, without ever having to worry about analysts knocking the value of my stock.

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.

Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to keep things simple.

Tough times are inevitable in life and in business. But how you compose yourself during those times defines your spirit and will define your future.

There are no quick wins in business - it takes years to become an overnight success.

A business has to be involving it has to be fun and it has to exercise your creative instincts.

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!

Sometimes miracles come in pairs.

More businesses should be following Apple's stance in encouraging more investment in sustainability.

Hiring the right people takes time the right questions and a healthy dose of curiosity.

There is no way I would ask others to go on a Virgin Galactic flight if I didn't feel it was safe enough for myself.

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.

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.

Never take your eyes off the cash flow because its the life blood of business.

A complaint is a chance to turn a customer into a lifelong friend. I say that seriously, not as some press release baloney.

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.

As a father and now a grandfather to three wonderful grandchildren, I know how magical the first year of a child's life is but also how much hard work it takes. Being able to spend as much time as possible with your loved ones is absolutely vital, especially early on.

Do not be embarrassed by your failures learn from them and start again.

We've always had a pretty competitive and pretty ferocious battle with British Airways... It's lasted now about 14 years, and we're very pleased to have survived it.

Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.

You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.

Smoking marijuana, as long as you leave the nicotine out of it, is certainly no more damaging than having a drink, and I suspect better for you than having a drink.

Overcoming fear is the first step to success for entrepreneurs. The winners all exemplify that, and the hard work and commitment they have shown underlines what is needed to set up a business.

One key to entrepreneurial success is to get a great group of people around you who believe in your idea.

Every single astronaut who has come back from space comes back determined to do more to protect it.

If you are a small company taking on a big company, you need to have a sense of humor.

Brothers and sisters are one of the constant things in the lives of many people.

If you want to be more productive, then start at the start: get there on time. Whether it is a meeting, a flight, an appointment or a date, it's important to ensure you are there when you say you will be there. This may feel like an old-fashioned tip to give, but it has served me well for five decades in business.

Back when I was in school, few people understood dyslexia and what to do for it. My teachers thought I was lazy and not very clever, and I got bored easily... thinking of all the things I could do once I left school. I couldn't always follow what was going on.

I'm a lad of the '60s. I started a magazine to try and end the Vietnam war, but it was a number of years before I had the profile, the financial resources and the time to do more.

Through the right people focusing on the right things, we can, in time, get on top of a lot if not most of the problems of this world. And that's what a number of us are trying to do.

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.

My philosophy in life is that you only live once. Live life to its fullest.

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.

I nearly failed when Virgin was in its infancy; I nearly failed in the early 1980s, and, of course, I have nearly died more than once trying to achieve a world record for boating or ballooning. But through a combination of luck and planning, both Virgin and I are still here.

Material things are delightful, but they're not important.

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.

You never know with these things when you're trying something new what can happen. This is all experimental.

As more airlines consolidated and grew larger and more focused on the bottom line, flying in the U.S. became an awful experience. Despite moves to block our airline from flying, Virgin America began service in August 2007 - with the goal of making flying good again.

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.

By putting the employee first, the customer effectively comes first by default, and in the end, the shareholder comes first by default as well.

A passionate belief in your business and personal objectives can make all the difference between success and failure. If you aren't proud of what you're doing, why should anybody else be?

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.

Life's too short. If you're passionate - stand up.

I believe in benevolent dictatorship provided I am the dictator.

I've been very lucky. I come from a very close family.

Most skills can be learned, but it is difficult to train people on their personality.

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.

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.

When hiring somebody, I never ask to see a curriculum vitae. I feel that since I didn't have one myself, it would be a bit presumptuous to ask to see anyone else's.

Your brand name is only as good as your reputation.

If you want to be a Millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline.

Be willing to use yourself to get out there and put the company on the market. If you have to make a fool of yourself, make a fool of yourself, but make sure that you end up on the front pages, not the back pages. In time, it's possible that your company will stand out from the crowd, and you'll be successful.

My philosophy is that if I have any money I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around.

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.

One thing is certain in business. You and everyone around you will make mistakes.

When you’re first thinking through an idea, it’s important not to get bogged down in complexity. Thinking simply and clearly is hard to do.

Although I've been living in the British Virgin Islands for some time now, I have never stopped caring passionately about the U.K. and its great people.

Learn to live on the edge.

My early business ventures included growing Christmas trees and breeding birds.

I suppose Virgin is an unusual brand in that I suspect we're the only 'way of life' brand in the world. We're one of maybe the top 30 best known brands in the world, yet if you look at the other 29, they all specialize in one area. Whether it's Google, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, etc., they all generally specialize in one area.

My attitude has always been, if you fall flat on your face, at least you're moving forward. All you have to do is get back up and try again.

All good leaders listen to their people and empower them to go away and turn any innovative ideas they have into a reality.

I love the freedom of movement that my phone gives me. That has definitely transformed my life.

And obviously, from our own personal point of view, the principal challenge is a personal challenge.

Ridiculous yachts and private planes and big limousines won't make people enjoy life more, and it sends out terrible messages to the people who work for them. It would be so much better if that money was spent in Africa - and it's about getting a balance.

If you get your face and your name out there enough people will start to recognize you.

The key is to set realistic customer expectations and then not to just meet them but to exceed them preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.

An exceptional company is the one that gets all the little details right. And the people out on the front line, they know when things are not going right, and they know when things need to be improved. And if you listen to them, you can soon improve all those niggly things which turns an average company into an exceptional company.

Have fun, work hard and money will come. Don't waste time - grab your chances. Have a positive outlook on life. When it's not fun, move on.

Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I used to be skeptical of global warming but now Im absolutely convinced that the world is spiraling out of control. CO2 is like a bushfire that gets bigger and bigger every year.

I love to dance, but my children tell me I shouldn't. Can't see why.

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.

I'm not the sort of person who gives up on things. The first time we crossed the Atlantic in the balloon, it crashed, and we went on and did the Pacific. First time we crossed the Atlantic in a boat, it sank, and we went on and got the record. So, generally speaking, we will pick ourselves up, brush ourselves down, and carry on.

My general attitude to life is to enjoy every minute of every day. I never do anything with a feeling of, 'Oh God, I've got to do this today.'