Quotes from Theo Paphitis

I'm not massively academic. I'm a commonsense person.

I started work at 13, had three or four part-time jobs, and learnt very quickly the values of work.

I admire people who have passion and energy.

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.

Retail is my game. I spend every waking hour thinking about it. I started in the industry at the age of 18 after trying various other things that were mind-numbingly boring to me.

I can walk all day in malls, shopping centres, high streets - I love it.

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.

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

My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS retweet from me becomes part of a friendly club. Like-minded individuals can share successes and learn.

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

Take calculated risks and limit your downside.

I'm not into cats; they aren't my bag.

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

Business isn't complicated; we complicate business.

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.

Showing your emotions is not a weakness.

Businesses might have been helped by the ability to promote themselves on the Internet, but they have also been hit by the web's encouragement of time-wasting by their staff.

The Internet has heralded a revolution in our society. It has transformed the way we do business, entertain, communicate, and travel. In many ways, the change has been positive. The web has brought new freedoms, spurred economic growth, and extended the boundaries of knowledge.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

I was born in Cyprus, but my family moved to England when I was about six.