John Caudwell Quotes

I really do feel guilty that I don't visit me mum enough.

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 didn't want my epitaph to read 'Here lies John Caudwell, billionaire.' I knew that wasn't enough. I've had a charitable instinct all my life, but working gave me no time for it.

My objective is to leave my family adequately catered for, but I want my children to make their own way. I want them to have pride in their own achievements.

I'm a wealth creator. I'm not interested in saving in the least. While I do spend a lot, I don't spend money like other billionaires. I'm probably quite unusual, albeit I do have some of the significant trappings. But I always try to make my assets work for a living.

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.

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.

My second business would have succeeded but for competitors' jealousy. I was selling motorbike gear cheap, but the people I was undercutting complained to the manufacturer and cut off my supply. It showed me how corrupt business can be. When I sold phones, the same thing happened, but this time I was ready.

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

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

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

My main commitment is to Caudwell Children. I put more than £1m a year into the charity, besides a lot of time and effort.

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.

People are much more important than superficial environments.

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.

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.

Knowing that my ancestry had all been quite wealthy and owned their own businesses probably left me with the ambition to replicate what they'd done.

My philosophy is very much to encourage my children to forge their own success and happiness, even though that will undoubtedly involve much more modest levels of wealth creation.

I do not put my tastes as incredibly expensive, but they are incredibly expensive for an average man.

OK, I've made a preposterous amount of money. But I was born with the attributes needed to do it.

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 considered several names, but Titania, a character from Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream', was best able to portray the image I wanted for what is a fantastically elegant and sexy yacht.

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.

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.

In the early days, I had everything to prove. A very working class lad with a burning ambition. A very crude way of measuring success is how much you are worth.

There are lots of brownfield sites in Stoke, but they are not suitable for building executive homes. It needs to be surrounded by fields. It needs to be on greenbelt land. That's what executives want.

I would be the first to say that while a lack of money can cause misery, money doesn't buy you happiness.

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

Before I really even understood what the term meant, I wanted to be wealthy. I wanted to be able to drive the beautiful old Rolls-Royces my father admired when I was a child.

I decided to leave most of my wealth to my charitable foundation, which is not to be confused with my charity. My charity helps children directly. The charitable foundation will receive most of my legacy when I die.

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.

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.

I make no apology for wanting to make a profit - the more I make, the bigger percentage will go to charity. So most of the work I do now is motivated by that.

When my back's to the wall, I want to fight.

Sometimes your worst competitors are the ones which are dying because they do stupid things.

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

I can safely say that there are dozens of places on 'Titania' to watch a film with friends. I would estimate there's something like 50 televisions on board, some of which are very big-screen, some of which drop out of ceilings on the outdoor decks.

I couldn't even contemplate anyone even making a film about my life!

I don't like paying too much for anything or wasting it. I think that I'm more of a balanced individual rather than a dichotomy.

I was only 21 when I bought a five-bedroom detached house in Stoke-on-Trent that was way outside of my financial status in life. I did it by borrowing money from my family and the bank, taking out a huge mortgage.

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 always felt, right from a youngster, that it was my destiny to be a success. It sounds a little bit egotistical, but I felt I had a calling to do something.

As the years passed, and I was nine, 10, 11 years old, it became obvious I was going to start up a business of some sort.

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

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