Quotes from John Caudwell

In any business opportunity, you'd be looking, probably, primarily at the risk and return. Some business can be very risky with a low return; what you want is the lowest risk with the biggest return.

I'm in the lucky position that I can help a huge amount of people. It's a great privilege and freedom to have.

I just wasn't academic. I wanted to be in the real world.

Business is about being the best that you can be, and there are always glowing examples of people that we can all learn from.

I realised I've got quite a talent for coming up with ideas for design. I've got so many ideas about fashion.

My favourite thing is to come down to London from my home in Staffordshire in the helicopter and then get my bike out of the back and cycle into London. It's wonderful.

I always switch off from the business when I go across the threshold. Home is home, and I try to keep it that way.

If you throw money around like confetti, it just becomes shallow and meaningless.

When the country's indebtedness is so colossal and where the budget deficit is so huge, there is a moral obligation on people to pay their fair and reasonable dues.

I will stay living in Staffordshire. Other people would be moving offshore. I am reasonably happy to help support the British economy. I have done very well out of Britain.

I believe in workers' rights when people are doing a good job.

Mine was quite a working-class childhood with very little money, and my father was out of work a couple of times, which had quite a traumatic effect.

I do like a healthy dose of adrenalin, but my character is more rounded. I am not timid; I like excitement.

The power of fear of failure, with will to win, is an incredible force. I don't think we should be worried about having a fear of failure; I think it's quite natural. If you surveyed any top businessman or any top athlete, I bet if they were truthful, they would all say they've got a fear of losing and a fear of failure.

I don't think I'm going to live until I'm 70, no; I could die tomorrow. So there isn't a panic that time is running out, but there is an element that anything could happen.

Some of the things I did in my early career were massive learning curves because I had no one to guide me. You learn very quickly because it costs you torment and trouble.

The only really important thing, at the end of the day, is your health. If you haven't got that, then all the money in the world isn't going to bring you happiness.

I will give away at least half my wealth during my lifetime and after my death. In the meantime, I'll continue to grow my wealth as much as possible so that the amount I bequeath to charities and worthy causes can be as substantial as possible.

I might have made more money if I had outsourced to India, and I knew I'd find it easier to hire senior managers in London. But I wanted to be in Stoke. What could be more satisfying than creating work for 3,000 people in my home town?

'Titania' is the best yacht currently afloat of its kind and size. There is very little, if anything, that anybody would go wanting for on 'Titania.'

I have a helicopter that I use for U.K. business trips, and I fly myself. I have a yacht in Antibes in the south of France, which is a sort of indulgence, as we only use it for about four weeks a year. The rest of the time, it is chartered out to people as a business.

I do want to keep the Wedgewood Collection in place, intact, and open to the public. Selling it off would be a real tragedy.

I suppose I have very undesirable traits. I am very critical, which is very undesirable. But it is good from a business point of view.

At the end of the day, if you've got the great idea, and someone judges you've got the managerial capability, you'll probably get the backing for it.