Top 791 Quotes & Sayings by Richard Branson - Page 13

Avoid litigations. They are expensive and consume loads of time but if you have got a good case and a better chance of winning; then fight it out.

My parents brought me up with this philosophy. You must do things. You mustn't watch what other people are doing. You must not listen to what other people are doing.

...making profits is important because it keeps all our people in jobs and, you know, it keeps what we - what we've created going, but, you know, what we're - what I get my - what I'm proud about doing is creating companies which we're really proud of, you know, which we can really be proud of and a byproduct of that hopefully will be that they'll be profitable and be able to pay the bills.

I know enough to know that no man is an island.

I have always believed that the only way to cope with a cash crisis is not to contract but to try to expand out of it.

Be creative. Innovate consistently on the little things that the big companies ignore. Little things often make big differences in business.

Learn to raise capital by any means necessary. That's your primary job as an entrepreneur. You must continually raise capital from family and friends, banks, suppliers, customers and investors.

Be swift to take advantage of business opportunities. Bigger companies are too cumbersome to move quickly; this can be a competitive advantage for you.

And if after all this you eventually fail; don't take it personal. Don't be ashamed to start all over again.

Listen to the customer's complaint and act fast.

I set up this magazine called Student when I was 16, and I didn't do it to make money - I did it because I wanted to edit a magazine. There wasn't a national magazine run by students, for students. I didn't like the way I was being taught at school. I didn't like what was going on in the world, and I wanted to put it right.

Run lean; avoid unnecessary expenses.

The brand is only as good as your products, so.. if people have a good experience on Virgin Atlantic or if they have a good experience on Virgin trains or.. if they have a Virgin mobile phone and they can get straight through to our people and they're well looked after and then they'll try the next product that we launch.

Throughout my business life I have always tried to keep on top of costs and protect the downside risk as much possible. The Virgin Group has survived only because we have always kept tight control of our cash. But, likewise, I also know that sometimes it is essential to break these rules and spend lavishly.

Everybody has a camera on their phone these days, everybody wants a selfie or a picture, and the moment one person starts taking a picture everybody congregates around so I've become quite a fast walker. I don't like saying, "No," to people but by walking fast one might be able to avoid the first photo.

We [Virgin Group] have been successful not by wasting time scrutinising our competitors but by looking at ourselves from the point of view of our customers do and seeking feedback through listening.

Coming up with the bucket list is the easy part, but ticking off the list is the challenge. I love a good challenge, which is why I strongly advise everyone to come up with a bucket list. It doesn't have to contain out of this world tasks. But once you have written down the list, screw it, just do it!

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.

Actually, we did a fun April Fools' thing with Google a couple of years ago, which we called Virgle. And we looked for volunteers to go on a one-way trip to Mars.

I'm hopeful that after Iraq, those in charge will think twice about taking us down that route again.

Everything in your business can be outsourced... if you're not emotionally attached to doing it all.

The most important thing for entrepreneurs is not to be put off by failure.

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

Life is a series of ups and clowns. Make it worth your wild!

I doubt that I would have been successful in my career and happy in my personal life if I hadn't prioritized health and fitness. Staying active ensures mental preparedness and the courage to try new things. It helped me to stay focused on work but also to have fun and try new approaches and explore new places. That's the spirit behind Virgin Sport - we wanted to introduce fitness activities that are enjoyable, accessible and part of your overall lifestyle.

One of the best bits of advice I can give is, early on, when you're building a new business, try to find somebody to run it on a day-to-day basis to free yourself up to look at the bigger picture.

Every business will face tough times.

It isn't effective or productive to force your employees to do anything. Choice empowers people and makes for a more content workforce.

Focus on your business strengths and keep its weaknesses away from the competition or public.

If you go back into military history, the person who's leading the troops ought to be in with the troops and not just standing on the backline sending them into battle.

Whenever I see people getting a bad deal I want to step in and do something about it. Of course, this is not pure altruism - there's a profit to be made too.

I like to set myself a new adventure challenge at least once or twice a year because I love that side of my life. I love getting fit and training for it.

I've been very lucky. I come from a very close family. I'm also in a relationship that's been really good. Lasted a long time. We've got wonderful kids from that relationship, and they've had the benefit of being together. It's fantastic to have that sort of togetherness. It's a rarity these days.

Grow internally first. Strengthen your bottom line first before considering external growth.

It's obviously incredibly important to keep the body fit in order to keep the mind fit, and be able to find time for friends.

I've been lucky to have survived balloon trips, boating trips, you know, a lot of rather foolish things in my life, so I was definitely born under a lucky star.

I'm not superstitious. I don't really believe in star signs, sorry, or superstitions.

I think because I have great difficulty saying the word, 'no,' almost every day's a different adventure.

On conflicts, generally speaking, the world is a hell of a lot better to live in today than it was thirty years ago, despite what's going on in Syria. There are definitely hopeful signs that the world is moving, decade by decade, in the right direction.

I do believe the harder you work, the luckier you get.

Virgin, is how good you are with people. If you're - if you're good with people and you've got - you know, and you really care, genuinely care about people then I'm sure we could find a job for you at Virgin. I think, you know, that, you know, that the companies that look after their people are the companies that do really well. I'm sure we'd like a few other attributes, but that would be the most important one.

Embrace a mistake and learn from it; don't regret them.

To be a great leader, you must be a great listener

Find somebody else to run your business on a day-to-day basis.

Travel the world and meet people. I've been fortunate enough to see so much of the world, and being able to do so has brought me so many wonderful friends and experiences. There is no better way to learn than exploring new places.

Leading by fear is a lot of companies' approach, and a horrible way for people to exist in their lives, when most of your life is spent at work.

Most entrepreneurs are not doing it for financial motives in the first place. They're just people who love creating.

What we are trying to do at Virgin is not to have one enormous company in one sector under one banner, but to have two hundred or even three hundred separate companies. Each company can stand on its own feet and, in that way, although we've got a brand that links them, if we were to have another tragedy such as that of 11 September - which hurt the airline industry - it would not bring the whole group crashing down.

There are some nasty, nasty incidents taking place in the world, but [it's] much better than it used to be.

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.

Screw the competition - focus on good customer service.

Most entrepreneurs will admit luck plays a part in success.

I drink about 30 cups of tea a day. I'm a complete tea addict.

I never learned the rules in the first place. To change the game is at the heart of what Virgin stands for, so the company culture has always been: "Don't sweat it: rules were meant to be broken."

[If] man creates the problem, surely man can solve it.

Perhaps, therefore, it is odd that if there is any one phrase that is guaranteed to set me off it's when someone says to me, 'OK, fine. You're the boss!' What irks me is that in 90% of such instances what that person is really saying is, 'OK, then, I don't agree with you, but I'll roll over and do it because you're telling me to. But if it doesn't work out I'll be the first to remind everyone that it wasn't my idea.'

I love creating things, and as an entrepreneur, I've taken on quite a lot of major corporations and done well. Capitalism is the only system that works, but it has its flaws; for one, it brings great wealth to only a few people. That wealth obviously brings extreme responsibility.

It is important in life to turn adversity to success

You don't have to be one of the Elders. You don't have to be well known. You just have to be determined to care about people. That's all it takes.

I have had fun running all of the Virgin businesses, so I never see a setback as a bad experience; it is just a learning curve.