You give power to issues if you pay a lot of attention to them. The more attention you give them the more power they have. So the most powerful thing you can do is just get on and ignore it.

If people have got an amazing opportunity such as on 'Dragons' Den' and they mess it up by being lazy with their presentation it does make me a bit cross.

I've got a lot of laughter lines. You don't get laughter lines on your face without having a lot of fun in your life.

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

Retirement has never, ever crossed my mind. And I honestly can't imagine when or why it would. If you're doing the thing you love, why on earth would you want to stop doing it?

I'm not going to be told that I shouldn't be doing anything, or behaving in any particular way at any age of my life.

People who buy your product or use your service don't care how tall or short you are, or what gender you are, or your age. It is irrelevant. That is not the basis on which your product is judged.

I feel like the luckiest person alive. I spend my life doing the stuff I love. I'm surrounded by inventive people who are full of energy and life.

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.

But it's no good letting your emotions get the better of you.

Running the country is like running one big business.

I don't actually like dogs smelling of anything other than natural dogs.

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

I'm always asked about how women get on in the boardroom and my answer is always, 'Never acknowledge that you are a woman. Your gender is not the point.'

I did ballroom dancing at school, but I was atrocious.

I am proud of the fact I would never tamper with my looks. I love the fact I have earned every line and wrinkle.

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.

I look in the mirror and see lines, but I have earned those lines. It has taken me 59 years to get them and I am not losing them now.

I was never good at taking instructions.

When I first started on 'Dragons' Den,' I was under pressure to buy flashy cars and boats but I resisted.

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.

I'm deeply impatient. If I can't park directly in front of somewhere, I go home.

I am terrible. When I buy stuff, I want it straight away. If it says two to three weeks delivery - no way. I will find somewhere that will deliver it that afternoon.

I care a lot about animal welfare and children. Although I don't have children myself.

My friends would say I'm not the person to go to for tea, a cuddle and sympathy, because I can't deliver. But if you want something sorted out and need a champion who will stand by your side, that is me.

I'm not particularly tactile.

Peter Jones is hot.

I'm not great at taking compliments because I always find the thing I could do better.

The minute I think 'Oh God, I don't want to do this because I'm scared,' is the moment I have to do something, whatever it is.

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.

I don't cook at all, and whenever my husband Paul goes away he leaves meals for me and I can't even be bothered to put them in the oven.

You can't beat a bar of chocolate between cheap white bread - there is nothing like it.

I don't exactly know the moment that I was a millionaire but it was in my twenties.

I didn't want to get married.

Business doesn't cut you any slack because of your gender. You're either good at what you do or you're not.

It can be difficult to find investment for a new business, particularly one which is highly innovative or breaks new ground.

We have a very good history of manufacturing in this country but I worry that these skills are being lost. We walk around saying, 'We haven't got any manufacturing any more' but Made In Britain really means something, particularly in other parts of the world. We need to support British manufacturing.

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

My parents felt I should earn my money because I would then value it. So they would pay me a shilling or two to do jobs such as washing the car, cleaning and washing up.

My first paid job was leading pony rides along Minehead seafront when I was eight. I probably got paid sixpence - not much but I loved horses and it gave me a great chance to be near them.

I think I'm absolutely perfect. Because if I'm not good at something I completely banish it from my mind. Completely. Like it never happened.

People can be very serious with me, and expect me to be very businesslike all the time. So I have to help them get over that by showing them that I enjoy life.

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

I won't get involved in businesses that I think cut across any kind of animal welfare issues.

The one thing I say, I will invest in anything - I don't care what it is - as long as it doesn't cut across my ethical code, because at the end of the day I want to be able to live with myself. I want to feel proud of what I do.

If someone needs help, I don't do tea and sympathy, but I'm honest and practical - that's how I was brought up.

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?'

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 don't like anything with too much dependency. Children are very dependent, which is probably why we never had them.

I am a more rounded person than you see on television. You don't bark your way to being a success.