KERRY STOKES

At one stage, I didn't have any money, so I slept on the streets for a few nights. It wasn't uncommon in the 1950s, and it wasn't uncommon to be out of money. There wasn't anywhere to go to get money.

I hate profile photos.

I just decided that I wasn't going to gain anything by going to school, since we couldn't afford it anyway, so I left school very early and went to work and progressively did things.

Our balance sheet provides us with the ability to act on investment opportunities in appropriate areas that diversify and broaden our portfolio, including the gas and energy sector.

I am a pretty tough nut, I guess, and I love art as one of the expressions that probably appeals to my softer side that a lot of people would deny I had.

I don't wish hardship on anybody. My background was one of being very difficult, very hard, and they were subject to the times I lived in. I wouldn't wish that on anybody.

If you have a difficult message to deliver in any circumstance, it's always best to do it first up-front, and probably be a bit harder than you have to be because it's always easier to be nicer afterwards.

I haven't got a problem with scrutiny. If it gets hot in the kitchen, don't cook a meal. People should be able to criticise us - it's completely appropriate.

I'm a beginning, not an end.

Every father loves their children. I love my two sons very dearly. The only thing that is important to me is that they do what they want to do. They shouldn't feel a sense of obligation.

With WesTrac, you have real people doing real jobs with real problems and real opportunities, and you touch the metal, and it's like being grounded.

Frankly, if you can sell something at $80 a tonne that cost you $20 a tonne, you might want to sell as much as you can.

You can be involved in media, and you can be involved in all the handbag hurling that goes along with it, and it's a different world.

I've been very lucky because Perth has been very good to me. I've enjoyed my journey and met so many wonderful people.

I know about photography - I'm really good at it.

Ethics or simple honesty is the building blocks upon which our whole society is based, and business is a part of our society, and it's integral to the practice of being able to conduct business, that you have a set of honest standards.

If you have a difficult marriage, it's the hard times that make it better. If you have a relationship, it's the hard times that actually make it better, and that goes for life as well.

I love Perth. It is my home, and no matter where I am in the world, Perth is where my heart is.

I'm lucky I had signposts in my life. At important times, I got pointed in the right direction by particular circumstances.

I have a fear of public speaking. It's very hard work. Words are not my skill, and because they're not my skill, I have to work doubly hard.

You can choose a direction that will take you into something that isn't going to take you where you want to go, or you can choose another direction which is down the right pathway.

I ended up in Broadmeadows orphanage - I don't know how that happened - whether she gave me up for adoption or the church was responsible. Whatever happened, she was a single mum.

I have always been comfortable that no one has been able to assess what I really have.

The most important adage and the only adage is, the customer comes first, whatever the business, the customer comes first.

The only way of making money is for effort. The only time I've ever lost money is when I've purposely said, "I'm doing this to make money." And I've actually on three occasions lost significant sums. I have made wealth when I've actually made a contribution to something, when I've done something I thought I could do better than somebody else or have done something better than somebody else does it.