Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar, is a British business magnate, media personality, politician, and political adviser. In 1968, he started what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics company Amstrad. In 2007, he sold his remaining interest in the company in a deal to BSkyB for £125 million. Sugar was the chairman and part-owner of Tottenham Hotspur from 1991 to 2001, selling his remaining stake in the club in 2007 as well, for £25 million. He appears in the BBC TV series The Apprentice, which has been broadcast annually since 2005.
Some of the best quotes from Alan Sugar are listed below.
- “A real successful man puts the love of his wife and children first, a real successful man’s greatest position in life is to have a great family… everything I have today is because of the love of that lady and the respect my three children have for the both of us.” – Alan Sugar
- “An entrepreneur cannot be grown; a person is born with entrepreneurial spirit within them.” – Alan Sugar
- “Aspiring to be an entrepreneur is better business terminology.” – Alan Sugar
- “Be a nice person. Learn to be respectful to your elders. Respect the law and don’t be a lout. Temptation is one of the worst things in life.” – Alan Sugar
- “Being employed in the old-fashioned way isn’t that available any more. People have got to start thinking about doing things for themselves.” – Alan Sugar
- “Do not rely upon any government to assist you in running your business.” – Alan Sugar
- “Don’t start telling me that you’re just like me, because no one’s like me; I’m unique.” – Alan Sugar
- “Don’t try to blame the rest of the world. The blame only lies with you. Recognize that immediately.” – Alan Sugar
- “Don’t worry if you make mistakes because that’s how most people learn.” – Alan Sugar
- “Entrepreneurial spirit does lie buried in the subconscious of many people, and it takes day-to-day opportunities and experience in business for it to actually flourish.” – Alan Sugar
- “Having a vision is about using your imagination, it is about stretching your brain to think differently. It’s about training yourself to focus on where it is you want to go, what it is you want to achieve.” – Alan Sugar
- “I always say that you have to take whatever claim is being made, divide it by two and take away the first number you thought of, and then maybe you’ll get to the real situation. People are passionate about their businesses and ten to overlook certain issues which others may deem negative.” – Alan Sugar
- “I am personally sick and tired of listening to so-called entrepreneurs complaining about how the banks and the government are not helping them in their businesses.” – Alan Sugar
- “I don’t make enemies, it’s just I’m not afraid to speak my mind, which can sometimes mean people don’t like what I am saying.” – Alan Sugar
- “I fought my way out of poverty and I remain convinced that others can do likewise too.” – Alan Sugar
- “I have a passion and commitment to try and help small businesses and enterprise to see if we can get things moving again.” – Alan Sugar
- “I have principles and I am not going to be forced to compromise them.” – Alan Sugar
- “I have the greatest respect for women in business. Some of the best people I’ve ever employed have been women.” – Alan Sugar
- “I just can’t bear having to be false – talking to someone just to get something out of it, financially or socially. If you want new friends and associates, they should be just that – genuine friends and associates.” – Alan Sugar
- “I like to be a very fair person.” – Alan Sugar
- “I often say that it doesn’t matter which business school you go to or what books you read, you can’t go into Boots and buy a bottle of entrepreneurial juice. Entrepreneurial spirit is something you are born with, just like a concert pianist’s talent.” – Alan Sugar
- “I started from nothing…There’s no reason on this God’s earth why someone else can’t do it in this day and age either too.” – Alan Sugar
- “I started my business in a so-called ‘recession.’… I didn’t know what a ‘recession’ was and I didn’t care less.” – Alan Sugar
- “I suppose the most telling thing about me is that I’ve been married to the same woman for 30 years. That’s unusual for someone as rich and successful as me. But that’s because I’ve kept the same values I had when I lived in a council house.” – Alan Sugar
- “I think it was Karl Marx who said, ‘Catch a man a fish, you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, you ruin a wonderful business opportunity.’” – Alan Sugar
- “I was sick of putting money in other people’s pockets when I knew I could earn more on my own.” – Alan Sugar
- “I would never be able to stay the course working for someone else.” – Alan Sugar
- “I’m a commercial person, not an academic.” – Alan Sugar
- “I’m a firm believer that, if you’ve got what it take’s you’ll have a feeling in your gut, a hunger in your belly – and you’ll know you want to be your own boss.” – Alan Sugar
- “I’m a great believer in solid foundations that will last – and that will serve your family, your community and, by implication, your country and future generations.” – Alan Sugar
- “I’m sick and tired of all this pussyfooting around and I’m going to do what I damn well want to do.” – Alan Sugar
- “I’m straight, I’m blunt, and I won’t always be popular.” – Alan Sugar
- “I’ve been in business since I was a 12-year-old schoolkid, really. If there was an opportunity and a demand, I’d be there.” – Alan Sugar
- “I’ve often told people that I don’t read too many books simply because I read for a living at the office.” – Alan Sugar
- “I’ve spent my business career giving good value for money, and I hope never to deviate from that ethos.” – Alan Sugar
- “If you decide to work with a partner, make sure that you know their abilities. Also, do a bit of due diligence to see if all that glitters really is gold.” – Alan Sugar
- “If you enjoy what you do, don’t be afraid of expressing your enthusiasm. Enjoyment is infectious.” – Alan Sugar
- “If you take care of your character, your reputation will take of itself.” – Alan Sugar
- “In America, everybody thinks they’re an entrepreneur. That’s the problem. It’s not a title that anybody should call oneself.” – Alan Sugar
- “It’s a simple rule of business: no income means you have to cut and run.” – Alan Sugar
- “It’s never a good thing to be seen to be rushing to conclude a deal.” – Alan Sugar
- “It’s very easy for people to blame the top man when things are no good but what you have to look deeper at is what these problems are.” – Alan Sugar
- “Learn from your mistakes, only work with people who share your vision and culture and most importantly, focus on your customer.” – Alan Sugar
- “Let your opponent win something… I realised that it’s no good boxing people into a corner; if you really want to succeed, you need to let them win a little and leave them with a nice way out.” – Alan Sugar
- “Love what you do and do what you love, otherwise you will become unhappy and self-defeating.” – Alan Sugar
- “Money is all right but once you have it you learn it’s not the be all and end all.” – Alan Sugar
- “My parents did their best, but not being able to have what I wanted made me determined to do something for myself – to be self-sufficient.” – Alan Sugar
- “Not all my early enterprises made money or got me a pat on the back.” – Alan Sugar
- “Not everybody needs to go to university; they can get out and start working straight away.” – Alan Sugar
- “Once you decide to work for yourself, you never go back to work for somebody else.” – Alan Sugar
- “Poverty is not an excuse for criminality.” – Alan Sugar
- “Put your loved ones, not your profit margin, centre stage.” – Alan Sugar
- “Self-belief is a critical skill for business success.” – Alan Sugar
- “That’s what successful business is all about – spotting new opportunities and exploiting them.” – Alan Sugar
- “The commodity may be different, the environment may be different, but the presentation and selling skills are exactly the same – and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” – Alan Sugar
- “The entrepreneurial instinct is in you. You can’t learn it, you can’t buy it, you can’t put it in a bottle. It’s just there and it comes out.” – Alan Sugar
- “The family ethos was to work hard because there was no other way to get any money.” – Alan Sugar
- “The only people whose opinions I worry about are my wife, my children, and my employees.” – Alan Sugar
- “The type of person I am – I need to know everything that’s going on in my company…” – Alan Sugar
- “There is no shame in looking at your competitors or reading up on what new trends and ideas are around. By all means spend valuable time at exhibitions.” – Alan Sugar
- “There’s too much of a culture that exists out there, what I call an expectancy culture, of things being provided.” – Alan Sugar
- “To be a successful business entrepreneur, you need more than just a competitive edge. You need a hide like a rhino, the ability to operate way outside normal comfort zones, a willingness to invent the rules, and a total, utter, complete self-belief – against all odds. Self-belief is a critical skill for business success.” – Alan Sugar
- “What you need is sheer determination. Passion and great personal belief. And a slice of good luck.” – Alan Sugar
- “When I first started out, I wasn’t interested in making a million, I wasn’t thinking about getting a knighthood. It was about getting some wheels. I wanted a car – and I wanted to be independent.” – Alan Sugar
- “Why work when you can fill out a few forms and get paid for doing nothing?” – Alan Sugar
- “You are the only one who knows what to do with your business.” – Alan Sugar
- “You can’t learn to be an entrepreneur by reading a book. You can only find out by giving it a try.” – Alan Sugar
- “You cannot make someone into an entrepreneur, just like you can’t make someone a pop singer or an artist. It has to be in-built in you; it’s a kind of a nose for things, a smell for things, and then an instinct to do it and a focus.” – Alan Sugar
- “You don’t need to be frightened of the media if you have no skeletons in your cupboard… The fact is… I have got nothing to hide.” – Alan Sugar
- “You have to pay, and you can only pay if you sell and, by that, I mean make a profit, not just turnover.” – Alan Sugar]
- “You mustn’t rely upon anyone else. It’s going to be you who defines the way forward.” – Alan Sugar
- “You need to set aside a day per week where you divorce yourself from the day-to-day activity of your company. You must have someone inside the company who you trust. God forbid you ever got run over by a number 6 bus. Think of that person, who would have to take control and put that person in control for a day.” – Alan Sugar
- “You never know when something stored in your mind can come into play as far as business is concerned.” – Alan Sugar
- “You’ve either got entrepreneurial spirit or you haven’t. It resides within you and it’s sparked off by ideas that come about through the various situations you find yourself in.” – Alan Sugar
- “Youngsters have got to stop thinking about becoming the next Zuckerberg. It’s a trillion-to-one chance. What they need is mater and pater to say, ‘Get a job, son.’” – Alan Sugar
- “Your average punter sees not further than finding a job and working for someone else. Business is viewed as a risk – and people are frightened to take the risk in case they fail. You will understand the buzz once you have done something on your own. In a funny way, the money takes second place.” – Alan Sugar
