Anita Roddick

Over the past decade... while many businesses have pursued what I call 'business as usual,' I have been part of a different, smaller business movement, one that tried to put idealism back on the agenda. ”

When you run an entrepreneurial business, you have hurry sickness - you don't look back, you advance and consolidate. But it is such fun. ”

All through history, there have always been movements where business was not just about the accumulation of proceeds but also for the public good. ”

I didn't go to business school, didn't care about financial stuff and the stock market. ”

I am still looking for the modern equivalent of those Quakers who ran successful businesses, made money because they offered honest products and treated their people decently... This business creed, sadly, seems long forgotten. ”

Since the governments are in the pockets of businesses, who's going to control this most powerful institution? Business is more powerful than politics, and it's more powerful than religion. So it's going to have to be the vigilante consumer. ”

At The Body Shop we had always been measured by how many jobs we had created, and I got a major award from the Queen on that. ”

Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that's exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. ”

I want to work for a company that contributes to and is part of the community. I want something not just to invest in. I want something to believe in. ”

The Body Shop Foundation is run by our staff and supports social activism and environmental activism. We don't tend to support big agencies. ”