David Tang

“Cantonese, which has up to nine tones as opposed to the five in Mandarin, is much more versatile and one of the richest dialects in Chinese.”

“It was something of a personal challenge for me to come up with a business suitable for the Internet world and the Internet age.”

“I can't establish the veracity of what people say because only they know whether they are telling the truth. I can't look into your mind, can I?”

“I'm extraordinarily lucky to have so many friends across such a diverse group of people. One day I'll be at Oxford, the next at some complete idiot's lunch.”

“Stephen Fry is a master exponent of the English tongue. Some people might think that he is the most irritating man in Britain, but my wife and I love him all the same.”

“About 90 percent of what's out there in cyberspace is hearsay - or lies - and opinion, often misinformed opinion, and it's all repeated over and over again.”

“I didn't like law. Every client had a problem, and I didn't want to listen to people's problems; I had enough of my own.”

“I shout at people... I am told that I'm a tyrant, but I still get things done, so that is fine.”

“It's very important to be curious in a very universal way. Whether someone is poor or rich, I'm curious about everything.”

“The image we have of a famous person often bears no relation to them.”

“In cyberspace, 95 per cent of what you read is hearsay.”

“Twitter is very impulsive and impermanent and you only have 140 characters. There is no greater 'Emperor' of Twitter than Stephen Fry.”

“If you are a friend of somebody and that friend is in trouble, you don't just drop them.”

“Entrepreneurs should never work with big corporations.”

“I'm not surprised about the lack of women on boardrooms. They were only emancipated 200 years ago, and historically, men have dominated. I welcome women as long as they qualify for the job.”

“The crux of the matter was... the partnership between Richemont and myself was going sour for personal reasons, and you know, you can't have two people arguing all the time, so it was either my buying him out or him buying me out.”

“The three most dreaded words in the English language are 'negative cash flow'.”

“It's going to be impossible in the 21st century for anyone to think about anything without a Chinese aspect.”

“The idea that there is a difference between East and West is nonsense. You both hand over your card with two hands. If someone were to give me a million pounds, I couldn't care if they handed it to me within their toes.”

“The beauty of the Internet is that there's no space limit.”