You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.

Branson’s line frames learning as an embodied, experimental process rather than a purely theoretical one. The image of a child learning to walk suggests that competence emerges through repeated attempts, mistakes, and recovery—“falling over” is not a sign of failure but a necessary stage of mastery. Applied to entrepreneurship and innovation, the quote argues against overreliance on rigid procedures or fear of error; progress comes from action, iteration, and resilience. It also implies that rules are often abstractions distilled after the fact, while real understanding is gained through lived experience and feedback from the world.

You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.