You've got to take risks if you're going to succeed. I would much rather ask forgiveness than permission.

We went all the way down the Himalayan chain for a day and a half. That was magnificent, except the Chinese told us they were going to shoot us down if we came out the far end. So I spent a lot of my time contacting former Prime Minister Tony Blair begging him to tell the Chinese we were coming in this direction by mistake and could he please say we have no nasty motives for flying into their territory.

I believe in myself. I believe in the hands that work, in the brains that think, and in the hearts that love.

Sometimes I do wake up in the mornings and feel like I've just had the most incredible dream. I've just dreamt my life

I myself have benefited from many mentors throughout my life.

The jet stream is a very strong force and pushing a balloon into it is like pushing up against a brick wall, but once we got into it, we found that, remarkably, the balloon went whatever speed the wind went.

Most people assume that a record shop's success lies in selling records. In fact, Virgin's success both in mail order and the record shops lay in skill at buying records.