Quotes from Deborah Meaden

People shouldn't choose their careers on whether it's cool or not. They should choose their careers on, 'Are they good at it, do they love it, is it going to give them a good life?'

Nobody is like the person I am on TV, surely, only Cruella de Vil, or the wicked witch from Snow White.

I often see people who I think could be really successful in business but they just don't realise they have the skills and they don't believe in themselves.

I'm very direct, I don't believe in wasting time, in wasting words.

I would have liked children, but I am not all disappointed. I've had a lot of stuff thrown at me in life so I don't dwell on it.

Both my parents were entrepreneurs and built a nice leisure business. But money was tight when I was growing up.

As an entrepreneur and employer, in the fairly recent past I have been astonished at how difficult it has been to get young people to take the idea of getting a job seriously.

I'm quite a restless holidaymaker - I can't lie down on the sand and don't like too much heat.

People think I am a workaholic but I just love business.

To be honest, I've made a lot mistakes and I quite like making them because you learn from them.

I think I've got more humour than comes across.

I don't spend a lot of time worrying about how I look and I don't fall into the trap of judging myself by my appearance.

Feminism doesn't have a particularly constructive image, although I think there was time when it was relevant.

Money is not the ultimate point, but it remains the actual measure of success.

I'm impervious to charm. I can see through it.

A lot of people on holiday get very intolerant of things that go wrong, but getting wound up about the plane being late won't make it come any sooner.

I love the ingenuity of British entrepreneurs.

I was never good at taking instructions.

Sometimes, lovely surprises come out of things going wrong.

I am not intimidating, I am forthright!

I'm not a woman in the 'Den,' I'm a Dragon, we're all there to invest, it has nothing to do with gender.

Loving something doesn't make it a good investment.

I'm not looking for hobbies, I'm looking for investments.

Nearly everybody, when they first meet me, seems to have this sense of trepidation.