A person who is too nice an observer of the business of the crowd, like one who is too curious in observing the labor of bees, will often be stung for his curiosity.

Growing up in the place I did I never was aware of any other option but to question everything.

It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

I’m not an analyzer. I’ve got a son that analyzes everything and everybody. But I don’t analyze people.

Even in high school I was very interested in history – why people do the things they do. As a kid I spent a lot of time trying to relate the past to the present.

The common question that gets asked in business is, ‚why?‘ That’s a good question, but an equally valid question is, ‚why not?‘

Most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don’t know because we don’t want to know.

I bought a company in the mid-’90s called Dexter Shoe and paid $400 million for it. And it went to zero. And I gave about $400 million worth of Berkshire stock, which is probably now worth $400 billion. But I’ve made lots of dumb decisions. That’s part of the game.

Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success.

When I started my last business, I didn’t receive a paycheck for 13 months. The average person can’t handle that pressure.

There’s no point in starting a business unless you’re going to make a dramatic difference to other people’s lives. So if you’ve got an idea that’s gonna make a big difference to other people’s lives, then just get on and do it.

Children astound me with their inquisitive minds. The world is wide and mysterious to them, and as they piece together the puzzle of life, they ask ‚Why?‘ ceaselessly.

There’s something about music that encourages people to want to know more about the person that made it, and where it was recorded, what year it was done, what they were listening to, and all this kind of stuff. There’s something that invites all this obsessive behavior.

Most businesses think that product is the most important thing, but without great leadership, mission and a team that deliver results at a high level, even the best product won’t make a company successful.

I was out of my bed in one second, trembling with excitement, and I dashed to the door and into the adjoining room, where I could watch the streets below from the windows.

The first rule of business is: Do other men for they would do you.

The more you observe politics, the more you’ve got to admit that each party is worse than the other.

The most successful detectives owe their success to noticing small signs. Scouts are natural detectives and never let the smallest detail escape them. These small things are called by Scouts ‚Sign.‘

Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed?

We are by nature observers, and thereby learners. That is our permanent state.

If you’re in this business and you are scared, then you better do something else.

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

In 7th grade, I believe, I wrote my first rap song. It was about everything I was seeing, everything that was going on around me.

If my businesses or my investments are not profitable, then I don’t eat. And I like to eat.

To me, we’re marketing hope.

All you have in business is your reputation – so it’s very important that you keep your word.

There is no object so large but that at a great distance from the eye it does not appear smaller than a smaller object near.

Kids are watching us. I experience it every single day. They hang on my every word, what I wear, what I say.

The richest people in the world look for and build networks; everyone else looks for work.

The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.

It’s funny; recently I’ve started to notice people’s impersonations of me, and it’s basically like a hyperactive child.

But, having a perfume and license, in general, is a financial necessity. A designer must, to reap back the money spent on prototypes and all that sort of thing.

I have an obsession with knowing the answers to things. When I don’t know what happened, it just bothers me, gets under my skin, and I need to write about it.

I give infinite thanks to God, who has been pleased to make me the first observer of marvelous things.

Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.

Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.

The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.

Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.

I often visited a particular plant four or five miles distant, half a dozen times within a fortnight, that I might know exactly when it opened.

To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.

Any time an investment company has to spend heavily on advertising, it’s probably a bad business in which to invest.

Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

No, there is literally nothing on the business side that I wouldn’t sacrifice in a heartbeat to have an extra couple of hours‘ writing. Nothing.

Please think of me like an endangered species and just observe me quietly from far away. If you try to talk to me or touch me casually, I may get intimidated and bite you. So please be careful.

Art is the beautiful way of doing things. Science is the effective way of doing things. Business is the economic way of doing things.

Life is an exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived for others.

Eventually, all companies are replaced.

Beauty is all very well at first sight; but who ever looks at it when it has been in the house three days?

I’ve never gone into business to make money. Every Virgin product and service has been made into a reality to make a positive difference in people’s lives. And by focusing on the happiness of our customers, we have been able to build a successful group of companies.

There is something curiously boring about somebody else’s happiness.

When I’m really interested in something, I get superfocused on that. And I can spend hours upon hours not getting tired of reading about it and still be interested to learn more about it.

Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.

People only see what they are prepared to see.

It’s not catastrophes, murders, deaths, diseases, that age and kill us; it’s the way people look and laugh, and run up the steps of omnibuses.

I’m considered wise, and sometimes I see myself as knowing. Most of the time, I see myself as wanting to know. And I see myself as a very interested person. I’ve never been bored in my life.

My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.

Foreigners don’t want to invest any more in France – and this is not working.

That the divided but contiguous particles of bodies may be separated from one another is a matter of observation; and, in the particles that remain undivided, our minds are able to distinguish yet lesser parts, as is mathematically demonstrated.