A biography for Deborah Meadenhasn’t been written yet.
“My friends would say I'm not the person to go to for tea, a cuddle and sympathy, because I can't deliver. But if you want something sorted out and need a champion who will stand by your side, that is me.”
“I have no problem paying taxes. It doesn't bother me, because I want to live in a society that's happy.”
“Money is not the ultimate point, but it remains the actual measure of success.”
“People shouldn't choose their careers on whether it's cool or not. They should choose their careers on, 'Are they good at it, do they love it, is it going to give them a good life?'”
“But it's no good letting your emotions get the better of you.”
“To be honest, I've made a lot mistakes and I quite like making them because you learn from them.”
“I am not intimidating, I am forthright!”
“I don't like anything with too much dependency. Children are very dependent, which is probably why we never had them.”
“Much as I'm loving the 'Strictly' experience, I'm sure I'll always be better known for my business career and my appearances on 'Dragons' Den' than I will for my cha-cha-cha or Viennese waltz.”
“I didn't want to get married.”
“Running the country is like running one big business.”
“I'm not going to be told that I shouldn't be doing anything, or behaving in any particular way at any age of my life.”
“Sometimes, lovely surprises come out of things going wrong.”
“I am a very loyal person and believe that people should be treated fairly in life.”
“I started off in the leisure industry and now I find myself as the DIY queen - I'm not quite sure how that happened!”
“I don't cook at all, and whenever my husband Paul goes away he leaves meals for me and I can't even be bothered to put them in the oven.”
“I consider my position in the business world not as a woman but as a person.”
“Playing the piano was what I loved doing for myself, but as soon as it became a 'thing' that I was being pushed to pursue by my teachers, I rebelled.”
“I have definitely learnt in business that when you have a smart, engaged entrepreneur with good judgement they can really drive even a mediocre business forward so to me the entrepreneur is very important.”
“I don't look for praise.”