Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" I liked Tom Bower's biography of Bernie Ecclestone, the former Formula 1 boss. "

Related Quotes:

" The decisions you make when you leave school define the rest of your life. So, in terms of making the right choices for your financial security as you get older, my best advice is to do something you have an interest in and are passionate about, as you'll be working for a long time. "

" If someone underestimates you because you are warm and approachable, then you have an advantage over them. "

" My whole business philosophy is based on a risk-reward ratio. But it's got to stack up. If it doesn't, don't do it. You might as well go to a casino. "

" I was useless in the classroom; I would spend my time looking out of the window after the first 10 minutes. But when you do an apprenticeship, you don't have to wait for the teacher to tell you when it's time to start, because you are on the shop floor learning for real. "

" If you cannot bore your friends to death about your own small business, then something is seriously wrong. "

" I cringe when I watch myself on camera. I'm not articulate, and I'm dyslexic, but somehow it works. "

" I'm incredibly passionate about business, about small businesses, and about kids being given the right skills so they are successful. "

" My family come from Cyprus. Both my father and my grandfather worked on the British bases there, and as the British government granted independence to Cyprus, they granted British passports to those who worked with them. "

" The minute I stepped foot on the shop floor and started serving in a retail environment, I knew it was the career for me. I was a shop assistant for just one day, and I thought, 'This is it. This is the rest of my life. This is all I want to do.' "

" Every successful high street needs a catalyst that starts making people want to come there, and independent shops can be that catalyst. If you want a new idea on the high street, you'll probably find it in an independent. I know I shouldn't say this, but new ideas rarely happen in chains. What we do is adopt it once we spot it in an independent. "

" A small business can survive for a while without making a profit, but if its cashflow dries up, the impact is fatal. "

" I'm a shopaholic. I really am. I can't help myself. I do go into, browse, and purchase from my own shops, too, although the CEOs who run my businesses wish I didn't. "

" I don't really sleep until gone midnight anyway. It takes me a while to calm down before my mind allows me to switch off. "

" I'm an avid sailor, and my first time exploring the Dalmatian Coast and the Croatian islands was very special. "

" If you really want to sort out the High Street, you ask someone like Kate Swann at WHSmith, who has done a fantastic job of running profitable shops. "

" The great virtue of the web, its ease of communication, has also become its Achilles' heel in that it has polluted the air with meaningless babble and egomaniacal drivel. "

" In my early teens, I was working in a Wimpy Bar and delivering cab company cards to make cash. I also ran a tuck shop at school. I struggled academically because of being dyslexic. When I saw other families and what they had, it inspired me. I thought, 'I can get that, too, if I work hard.' "

" Business isn't complicated; we complicate business. "

" What's crucial in a High Street store is a compelling reason for people to shop there. Shops must offer excellent customer service - and 'theatre' is a must. "

" Wherever I go in the world, I put aside several days to go visit the stores. "

" What the entrepreneur gets on 'Dragons' Den' is direct access to people with masses of experience who can actually make quick decisions. "

" Small does not mean insignificant. "

" Both my sons are dyslexic, and so, too, in a much milder form, is one of my daughters. "

" It's very difficult for an entrepreneur to let go. It's very hard to sell a successful business. People sometimes hold on until the business has no value at all. "

" I'm a very considerate spender. I'm a shopper, and I do spend money, but I think about it first. "

" I'm a traditionalist, a family man. I love my kids. I believe I have brought them up the right way. They are all very different: they have different drives, different ambitions. They are never going to be me. They are going to be themselves. "

" In the 1960s, my first-generation immigrant parents were gifted the olive branch of a blue British passport when working for the British Army in Cyprus. It completely transformed the Paphitis story. "

" Women have to work harder to be in the same position as a fella because they often have to balance work with running a family. "

" When we arrived in the U.K. on the banana boat, we settled right by Old Trafford. "

" Without hope, the very fabric of our society will fall apart. "