Clive Berghofer Quotes
100 Clive Berghofer Quotes
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I thought, holy hell, if I can earn 5 pounds a day I’m going to be rich!
Clive Berghofer
I took no notice of anybody.
Clive Berghofer
I’ll do my hedges and mow my whole lawn in about two and a half hours. Some blokes will spend the day doing the bloody hedges, you know.
Clive Berghofer
Opportunity doesn’t always knock… If opportunity knocks, grab it, because you don’t know what it turns into or when the next one is going to turn up.
Clive Berghofer
Some people say that half a piece of cake is better than none. I always say any bit of cake is better than none.
Clive Berghofer
Get on with what you do best and do that better than others. Everyone has a place in the world.
Clive Berghofer
I used to tell people that I came fourth in my class. The truth was that there were only four students in the whole class. I also told people that I went to a high school because the school was built on tall stumps. In fact, I left primary school without sitting for scholarship.
Clive Berghofer
We used to get up and milk cows, get our own breakfast and cut our own lunch because Mum was still down in the dairy. We then walked about four miles to and from school. We had no television and the radio’s batteries were often flat but we were never bored. We had a very busy life full of work, school and homework.
Clive Berghofer
My father was very strict. He was a good-hearted person but very rigid. If we were digging a three foot post-hole and we hit a stone at 2 foot 9 inches and thought ‘that was near-enough’… No!… We had to go on to the last inch. He was a very honest, hard-working person. He kept the family in vegetables through hard times as he was a keen gardener.
Clive Berghofer
I preferred outdoors. I could beat the others at Arithmetic [Maths], but I hated English, history and geography. I was a very poor speller and a shocking writer. I had trouble reading because words looked jumbled, or similar to me. I’d read a sentence, come to a difficult word and by the time I’d worked it out, I’d lost the whole meaning.
Clive Berghofer
It still amazes me that I’ve succeeded in spite of these problems. I was very capable with my hands and very practical. I was a keen worker and by thirteen, I could do anything on the farm. A fellow classmate went on to University and studied chemistry. He was clever in class but not efficient on the farm. I believe that I have achieved more with my life because I have had more problems to overcome.
Clive Berghofer
People have asked where I would be if I’d been better educated? Well, I knew I couldn’t be a doctor, a lawyer or a teacher so I had to use my hands. I enjoy work and I like what I do. I’m sure I wouldn’t have been as wealthy as I am without my building business.
Clive Berghofer
Many of the apprentices were trained by the book but I would often see different ways of doing things. Not carelessly, because I’m very particular how work is done, but differently, often better, or more efficiently. I apprenticed a number of lads and I’m very proud of the standard and speed of the work I did. With one gang of men, I used to build one house a week, regularly! I’d start a house on Monday and it would be ready for the painters and plumbers by Friday afternoon. I’ve built about 600 houses in and around Toowoomba.
Clive Berghofer
Seventeen years ago, I designed and built The Wilsonton Hotel which I operated myself in the evenings and on weekends. It made the highest sales in Australia. The people who had told me that I couldn’t do it, then wanted to know how I had done it.
Clive Berghofer
[On becoming Mayor in council and handling responsibilities to others in the council, however finding his spelling and writing problems and embarrassment] I’m a perfectionist and find this frustrating, but there is always a solution. I have very good staff and we work well together. I am very positive, I value common sense and I can solve problems in a situation very quickly, often better than others.
Clive Berghofer
I’ve been successful because of my ability and honesty. I don’t make promises I can’t keep. I’m a social person, but not a socialite! I don’t isolate myself from people, but rather enjoy dealing with them and helping them. Even thought I am a multi-millionaire, I speak to anyone. I’m still Clive Berghofer.
Clive Berghofer
People have found me to be reliable and they appreciate it when they find that I don’t let them down. I work hard for my electorate and am a back-bencher when Parliament is sitting. I have no ambitions about becoming a cabinet minister, because I still read slowly. I manage my daily mail, but couldn’t deal with cabinet papers.
Clive Berghofer
As a Member of Parliament, the Opposition has often challenged my integrity, but this doesn’t worry me in the slightest because I am so proud of my record.
Clive Berghofer
I work from the time I get out of bed to the time I go to bed, seven days a week. I guess I’m a workaholic, but the busier I am, the more contented I feel. I’ve worked because I wanted to and I have never followed the eight to five routine. These days I enjoy gardening for relaxation.
Clive Berghofer
Everything I’ve done has been an enormous challenge to me. I took a long time to break into local government in Toowoomba. I was an unknown, the first Berghofer to do so and my opposition came from well-known families. I have succeeded in business and public office without dishonesty and I’m proud of my record. My good name is precious to me.
Clive Berghofer
I deal with challenge and frustration in my own way. I don’t believe in embarrassing or belittling people. If they do this to me, I don’t react angrily. You need to be able to handle frustration, to keep trying and to have willpower. I don’t find it necessary to react with insults. My solution is to prove myself in other ways. By ‘getting even’ you sometimes hurt yourself more than others and I’ve seen that happen.
Clive Berghofer
I believe that being practical and accepting things is important. It is also necessary to know what can and can’t be changed. Many people don’t succeed in life because they won’t settle for less than the best. It is said that half a piece of cake is better than none. I believe any piece of cake is better than none.
Clive Berghofer
[At 67 years of age in 2002] People say I am too bloody hungry to retire. If I was that money-hungry, I wouldn’t give my money away.
Clive Berghofer
[On donating $5 million over five years to a Brisbane cancer research centre (Queensland Institute of Medical Research - QIMR) and probably another couple of million on top of that] People say to me, ‘You can afford it’. A lot of people can afford it, but don’t do it.
Clive Berghofer
I’ve got nothing leased, nothing on hire purchase, nothing rented and nothing borrowed. What’s mine is mine and it is with great pleasure that I can give back to the community.
Clive Berghofer
[On being the Toowoomba Lord Mayor for 11 years until 1993] A lot of people criticised me because I was wealthy and the mayor, but when I got out I made a lot more money.
Clive Berghofer
I sold $5 million worth of land the last year I was mayor, and $25 million the year after that.
Clive Berghofer
Everyday, I get letters from sporting clubs and charities, and sometimes I give to three or four in a day – maybe just $500 in total.
Clive Berghofer
I’ve got no boys in the family [he has four daughters] and the Berghofer name will probably die out.
Clive Berghofer
[On donating to the Clive Berghofer Cancer Research Centre after losing a friend and colleague to cancer] It could be me or you or one my family that may need this cancer treatment.
Clive Berghofer
I like helping people.
Clive Berghofer
I’m hands-on and I take pride in what I do.
Clive Berghofer
I don’t lease anything in my organization – not even a telephone. The banks ring me up and ask when I’m going to borrow some money from them. I run a fairly unique business.
Clive Berghofer
It’s better to be a big fish in a small pond than a medium-size fish in a medium-size pond.
Clive Berghofer
[In 2004] We have had a hell of a year. The market is still going pretty well. Prices have flattened a bit. Some people have got a bit greedy.
Clive Berghofer
[He has been a success because he is a] Down to earth bloke who people trust.
Clive Berghofer
Good stuff at the right price will always sell.
Clive Berghofer
I own everything. Even the telephones.
Clive Berghofer
[On not being a keen sportsman despite donating to charities including sports clubs] I can’t even float.
Clive Berghofer
Some people get wealthy, but they’re not respected, but at least I’m wealthy and I think people respect Clive Berghofer.
Clive Berghofer
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