“we confused the manager’s general competence and maturity with his task-relevant maturity.”

“While the story is unique to Intel, the lessons, I believe, are universal”

“Let chaos reign, then rein in chaos.”

“a strategic inflection point is a time in the life of business when its fundamentals are about to change. that change can mean an opportunity to rise to new heights. But it may just as likely signal the beginning of the end”

“I still can’t believe it was news that I get my hair cut at the barbershop. Where else would I get it cut? Why do I drive a pickup truck? What am I supposed to haul my dogs around in, a Rolls-Royce? Nowadays,”

“If you don’t listen to your customers, someone else will.”

“The small stores were just destined to disappear, at least in the numbers they once existed, because the whole thing is driven by the customers, who are free to choose where to shop.”

“As an old-time small-town merchant, I can tell you that nobody has more love for the heyday of the smalltown retailing era than I do. That’s one of the reasons we chose to put our little Wal-Mart museum on the square in Bentonville. It’s in the old Walton’s Five and Dime building, and it tries to capture a little bit of the old dime store feel. But I can also tell you this: if we had gotten smug about our early success, and said, “Well, we’re the best merchant in town,” and just kept doing everything exactly the way we were doing it, somebody else would have come along and given our customers what they wanted, and we would be out of business today.”

“In the US, there is basically one party - the business party. It has two factions, called Democrats and Republicans, which are somewhat different but carry out variations on the same policies. By and large, I am opposed to these policies. As is most of the population.” 

I am always trying to find fabrics that are more friendly to the environment - working with Virgin Atlantic, they managed to research into this and find more eco fabrics.

“Buy less. Choose well. Make it last. Quality, not quantity. Everybody's buying far too many clothes.” 

The thing that makes my clothes really different is that, number one, they are really great designs; they're not tacky; they are very professional; the design is made from lots of decisions.

I've always had my own access to the public, because I started off making my clothes for a little shop, and so I've always had people buying them. I could always sell a few, even if I couldn't sell a lot, and somehow my business grew because people happened to like it. I'm in a fortunate position.

I don't feel very comfortable defending my fashion except to say that people don't have to buy it. You do have to consume. You have to live. If you've got the money to be able to afford it, then it's really good to buy something from me, but don't buy too much.

If we didn't have the Chinese buying things, we'd be on the floor.

Instead of buying six things, buy one thing that you really like. Don't keep buying just for the sake of it.

Real art has been... what's the word? Kidnapped? No, that's not it. But, OK, kidnapped by business.

We are so conformist; nobody is thinking. We are all sucking up stuff; we have been trained to be consumers, and we are all consuming far too much.

What I'm always trying to say to the consumer is: buy less, choose well, make it last.

I have considered voting Conservative because I am so against the Labour party.

TV is a fickle business. I'm only good for the length of my contract.

“for business reasons, I must preserve the outward signs of sanity.”

Be present. Be meditative. Form real friendships. Stay away from business networking events or friendships where there is always an underlying business angle.

Partner with rational optimists.