The important thing is that you've got a strong foundation before you start to try to save the world or help other people.

Business leaders take things far too seriously, and forget that most of the time people spend in their lives is at work, and it should be fun.

I was fortunate enough, after many visits to many wonderful, weird people to come across Burt Rutan, who is a genius in the Mojave Desert. And SpaceShipOne was born and had three flights into space that won something called the X Prize. And from there, we're building SpaceShipTwo, which is ... a beautiful spaceship that is very, very, very nearly completed and will be ready from about next Christmas onwards to start taking people into space.

The balloons only have one life and the only way of finding out whether they work is to attempt to fly around the world.

There is so much to be learned from listening to people's hopes, frustrations, and points of view

My philosophy is that if I have any money I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around.

Listen more than you talk. Nobody learned anything by hearing themselves speak.