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" My parents divorced, my brothers and I ended up living with my mother, and we were living with the choice of heating or eating. My mum was working, but she needed financial support to make ends meet. I had to have free school dinners and free school uniforms. "

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" We survived for hundreds of years under the old banking structure. You'd have clearing banks, then merchant banks doing the racy stuff, and then building societies where you'd join a waiting list for a mortgage. But then banks started buying stockbrokers, doing mortgages, and you ended up with these big banking groups doing everything. "

" On Saturday, I don't want to be woken up until at least nine: I like a bit of a lie-in, a cup of tea, toast and marmalade, and the newspaper. "

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" Showing your emotions is not a weakness. "

" I am the most conservative person you will ever come across, and that's because I'm good at reducing risks while leaving the potential rewards high. "

" I am for a transactional tax at the point of purchase for both online and physical retail. "

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" No major technological change has ever been instituted by mankind without an array of negative consequences. The motor car has meant liberation for millions, but it has also caused congestion, environmental damage, and a disturbing death toll on the roads. "

" The reality in business and in 'Dragons' Den' is you win some, and you lose some. "

" 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. "

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" If you look at all the investments made during 'Dragons' Den,' the ratio of those that make it to those that don't is actually extremely high. "

" The high street is not a retail thing: it's a social thing, part of the British lifestyle. And I say that as someone who started his life on Limassol high street in Cyprus. "

" Good businesses will survive good times and bad times. "

" Making the first million is hard; making the next 100 million is easy. "

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

" 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. "

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

" The high streets I remember best were Seven Sisters Road in north London and then sunny Peckham in south London after we moved there. They were where my parents used to shop. They were great, part of being a teenager. "

" I was absolutely astonished and could not believe my eyes at the outrageous interest rates that people in need have to pay to get loans. "

" 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. "

" When I went to school, most parents wanted their children to get good A-levels, to go to university, and get a degree so your children had a better life than you. The way out of poverty was through a degree. But the whole world has moved on from that. "

" I'm not a risktaker. I'm the total opposite. "

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" In Cyprus, our house was right on the beach. I could walk out of our front door, cross a road, and there was the sea. "

" I admire people who have passion and energy. "

" I'd like to think people know what I stand for, which is straight-talking honesty and telling you not just what you want to hear but where it is at. "

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

" 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.' "

" 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. "

" It's called common sense, but it's not common. Most people don't have it. "

" 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. "