Life is a helluva lot more fun if you say yes rather than no

I'm a lad of the '60s. I started a magazine to try and end the Vietnam war, but it was a number of years before I had the profile, the financial resources and the time to do more.

With space travel, [it's] no different. You know, in 1990 I read the name Virgin Galactic Airways. Loved the name. And set out to try to find an engineer or rocket scientist in the world who could build a safe, reusable rocket that could take people to and from space and we could start a whole new era of commercial space travel.

Above all, you want to create something you're proud of.

I think sometimes when you come from a conservative background, you want to rebel a little bit. I dropped out of school at 15 and learned early in life that saying yes was a lot more fun than saying no. If you have the opportunity to explore the skies and attempt something people haven't done before - well, I was damned if I was going to sit around watching television while someone else was doing it.

I cannot remember a moment in my life when I have not felt the love of my family. We were a family that would have killed for each other - and we still are.

If you're hurt, lick your wounds and get up again. If you've given it your absolute best, it's time to move forward.