Quotes by Richard Branson

Im 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.

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.

We have teams of people working on electric cars. So you never know - you may find Virgin competing with the Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business.

We have one planet in our solar system thats habitable, and thats the Earth, and space travel can transform things back here for the better. First of all, by just having people go to space and look back on this fragile planet we live on. People have come back transformed and have done fantastic things.

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

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 read everything, but generally more fact than fiction - especially autobiographies and biographies. Ive read Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela at least twice on holiday. Every time, Im 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.

The music industry is a strange combination of having real and intangible assets: pop bands are brand names in themselves, and at a given stage in their careers their name alone can practically gaurantee hit records.

Those who know me know Im 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.

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.

When I was four, my mother insisted I get out of the car and find my own way home. Although I got lost, I did find my way home. It taught me the value of independence at an early age.

You dont learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.

So Ive seen life as one long learning process. And if I see - you know, if I fly on somebody elses airline and find the experience is not a pleasant one, which it wasnt in - 21 years ago, then Id think, well, you know, maybe I can create the kind of airline that Id like to fly on.

Fun is one of the most important - and underrated - ingredients in any successful venture. If youre not having fun, then its probably time to call it quits and try something else.

Being a good listener is absolutely critical to being a good leader you have to listen to the people who are on the front line.

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

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.

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.

The funny thing is people wont let me pay for things. Ill be in a restaurant and the manager will say, Oh no, its on the house.

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