Top 60 Theo Paphitis Quotes

Entrepreneurship can be taught to people with average academic abilities – the proof of that is everywhere you look.

Showing your emotions is not a weakness.

I’m a traditionalist, a family man. I love my kids. I believe I have brought them up the right way. They are all very different: they have different drives, different ambitions. They are never going to be me. They are going to be themselves.

If you really want to sort out the High Street, you ask someone like Kate Swann at WHSmith, who has done a fantastic job of running profitable shops.

When I was on ‘Dragons’ Den,’ most of the letters I received were from people under 16. They wrote about their ideas, their views, their challenges. The audience is actually a very young audience.

I like the odd day relaxing by the pool, but I couldn’t stand to sunbathe for an entire week.

Small does not mean insignificant.

I love the English language, but I’m crap at it, so I might as well do what I’m good at. The same goes for my kids, who are also dyslexic. I won’t pressure them to do anything. They’ve each got a trust and a mortgage-free property, which is a lot more than I had, so I know they will always be fine.

It’s called common sense, but it’s not common. Most people don’t have it.

My family come from Cyprus. Both my father and my grandfather worked on the British bases there, and as the British government granted independence to Cyprus, they granted British passports to those who worked with them.

I was born in Cyprus, but my family moved to England when I was about six.

I am the most conservative person you will ever come across, and that’s because I’m good at reducing risks while leaving the potential rewards high.

Young people are the entrepreneurs of the future, and we should be looking to them as one of our sources of innovation for the high streets of tomorrow.

If someone underestimates you because you are warm and approachable, then you have an advantage over them.

I started work at 13, had three or four part-time jobs, and learnt very quickly the values of work.

The decisions you make when you leave school define the rest of your life. So, in terms of making the right choices for your financial security as you get older, my best advice is to do something you have an interest in and are passionate about, as you’ll be working for a long time.

I cringe when I watch myself on camera. I’m not articulate, and I’m dyslexic, but somehow it works.

For me, the high street is a key part of how we live, what sort of community we are, how we get our news, and how we get our gossip.

The more we learn about dyslexia, the more able we will be to help those with it.

I’d like to think people know what I stand for, which is straight-talking honesty and telling you not just what you want to hear but where it is at.

Retail is my game. I spend every waking hour thinking about it. I started in the industry at the age of 18 after trying various other things that were mind-numbingly boring to me.

Business isn’t complicated; we complicate business.

Stack the cards in your favour, and in a casino, you’ll get arrested and put in prison, but in business and in life, it’s the right thing to do.

I didn’t have a great childhood, and neither did Debbie, my wife, so we both try to give the kids not only the material things we never had but also the hugs and the love.

What’s crucial in a High Street store is a compelling reason for people to shop there. Shops must offer excellent customer service – and ‘theatre’ is a must.

Entrepreneurship is just one thing that needs to be in schools.

The reality in business and in ‘Dragons’ Den’ is you win some, and you lose some.

My whole business philosophy is based on a risk-reward ratio. But it’s got to stack up. If it doesn’t, don’t do it. You might as well go to a casino.

I was useless in the classroom; I would spend my time looking out of the window after the first 10 minutes. But when you do an apprenticeship, you don’t have to wait for the teacher to tell you when it’s time to start, because you are on the shop floor learning for real.

I don’t really sleep until gone midnight anyway. It takes me a while to calm down before my mind allows me to switch off.

If you look at all the investments made during ‘Dragons’ Den,’ the ratio of those that make it to those that don’t is actually extremely high.

A lot of multinationals have long, drawn-out processes and are pretty useless at putting products on the shelves quickly.

When we arrived in the U.K. on the banana boat, we settled right by Old Trafford.

I can walk all day in malls, shopping centres, high streets – I love it.

In the 1960s, my first-generation immigrant parents were gifted the olive branch of a blue British passport when working for the British Army in Cyprus. It completely transformed the Paphitis story.

Online is not contributing in the same way as the high street in terms of business rates and to the local community.

I’m incredibly passionate about business, about small businesses, and about kids being given the right skills so they are successful.

I liked Tom Bower’s biography of Bernie Ecclestone, the former Formula 1 boss.

I’ve always maintained the basic business principles of keeping it simple, doing your homework, hard work, and common sense.

What makes business exciting is that you don’t need a fancy degree, and anyone can do it.

Businesses might have been helped by the ability to promote themselves on the Internet, but they have also been hit by the web’s encouragement of time-wasting by their staff.

The great virtue of the web, its ease of communication, has also become its Achilles’ heel in that it has polluted the air with meaningless babble and egomaniacal drivel.

My family’s challenges meant we lived hand to mouth. There were weeks when we had neither electricity nor heating.

I’m not a risktaker. I’m the total opposite.

A small business can survive for a while without making a profit, but if its cashflow dries up, the impact is fatal.

My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS retweet from me becomes part of a friendly club. Like-minded individuals can share successes and learn.

I’m a very considerate spender. I’m a shopper, and I do spend money, but I think about it first.

I’m not into cats; they aren’t my bag.

I used to see Triumph TR7s and E-Type Jags, and I used to think, ‘One day, I’m gonna have one of those.’ I remember seeing an E-Type and walking round it 40 or 50 times.

If you cannot bore your friends to death about your own small business, then something is seriously wrong.

It’s very difficult for an entrepreneur to let go. It’s very hard to sell a successful business. People sometimes hold on until the business has no value at all.

Immigration has been good for this country; I know the value of it – hopefully I’ve given something back.

No major technological change has ever been instituted by mankind without an array of negative consequences. The motor car has meant liberation for millions, but it has also caused congestion, environmental damage, and a disturbing death toll on the roads.

What I’ve achieved with Boux Avenue is what I always wanted to achieve with La Senza.

Both my sons are dyslexic, and so, too, in a much milder form, is one of my daughters.

The eight years I spent at Millwall were among the best times of my life.

Wherever I go in the world, I put aside several days to go visit the stores.

I am for a transactional tax at the point of purchase for both online and physical retail.

Save money; never rely on other people to lend you money. We call it having ‘walking the streets’ money – money in your back pocket or bank account that belongs to you.

I’m not massively academic. I’m a commonsense person.