Simon Cowell Quotes

If you only ever heard Lady Gaga, she's the most boring singer in the world.

My dad said to me, 'Work hard and be patient.' It was the best advice he ever gave me. You have to put the hours in.

It's not my habit to kiss and tell. I've never done it.

Most things in music go full circle eventually.

I don't mind being cast as some kind of a pantomime baddie, but I am very fair in business. I always have been. I pride myself on being fair.

I don't have sophisticated tastes. I have average tastes. If you looked in my collection of DVDs, you'd see 'Jaws' and 'Star Wars.' In the book library, you'd see John Grisham and Sidney Sheldon. And if you look in my fridge, it's, like, children's food - chips, milkshakes, yogurt.

I didn't have any qualifications when I left school - I had three O-levels.

Every show I've ever, you know, produced, essentially it's the show I want to watch myself.

The end of the animal trade would leave more time to trap or beat to death pop star wannabes.

The only magazines I read are car magazines.

I like to know why a video has suddenly gone viral, why a song has broken, why a TV show is suddenly rating out of pattern... I'm pretty good at understanding why things are becoming popular.

If I was gay, why wouldn't I admit it? It wouldn't harm me.

Thank God kids love following an artist. When you get a group who pop, it's the best thing in the world.

I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics. So forgive me. But I am passionate about this country. I am equally passionate about the potential of the people who live here.

I've had Botox, but then again pretty much everyone I know has. To me, Botox is no more unusual than toothpaste. It works. You do it once a year - who cares?

I should get a dog. I would get a rescue dog. I like mutts; I don't care. I would probably get a three-legged dog no one else would want.

I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics.

When you're making a reality show, you can't even plan a week ahead now.

Every time I sat in a chemistry lesson, I thought, 'What am I doing this for? I don't ever want to be in a job that involves a Bunsen burner.'

I suggest we bring some normality back to this country and say if you are carrying a knife, there must be zero tolerance. If it was up to me, everyone caught with a knife would get an automatic ten year sentence.

I hate belongings. I hate clutter. It really bothers me because I can't think properly. If you've got distractions in front of you, your mind goes nuts.

I think if you're an unhappy person, you're always going to be an unhappy person. You're probably going to be less unhappy if your business is doing well, if I'm being honest.

Rules equal boredom, and I don't like that.

The secret of my success is that I make other people money. And, never ever, ever, ever be ashamed about trying to earn as much as possible for yourself, if the person you're working with is also making money. That's life!

I've always been petrified of working for a boss who I didn't like but who I was in fear of, because I wanted my salary.

I love TV. I love being behind the scenes on a TV show but there's something about, I don't know there's something very special when you've signed an artist and that first record comes in and it's a good record. It is an indescribable feeling.

I think that by ignoring the show you're ignoring the audience who put you there.

If I had one dog, I'd want a hundred. If I had one kid, I'd probably want a hundred. I mean, it's just the way I am.

For the music business, social networking is brilliant. Just when you think it's doom and gloom and you have to spend millions of pounds on marketing and this and that, you have this amazing thing now called fan power. The whole world is linked through a laptop. It's amazing. And it's free. I love it. It's absolutely brilliant.

The love I have for my ex-girlfriends will always be there, so I think that's true love.

When someone asks, 'Does success make you into a monster?' I always say, 'No, it enables you to be a monster.'

I hated school, but I love work.

If I said to most of the people who auditioned, 'Good job, awesome, well done,' it would have made me actually look and feel ridiculous. It's quite obvious most of the people who turned up for this audition were hopeless.

Money brings you security and choice. You can make decisions in a different way if you have a lot of money. But when you have nothing, you have a naivety, and a more fearless attitude because you have nothing to lose.

You know what the secret to weight loss is? Don't eat much.

Good is not enough. You've got to be great.

Of course I have an ego, but you have to have an ego. You have to be incredibly competitive. I can get competitive at times, way too much, and it becomes a little bit obsessive.

I have total respect for anyone who discovers a band like Snow Patrol. I would be hopeless at signing a rock band, or anything alternative, cause I don't know what that audience are into and I don't particularly like that kind of music.

Anyone who goes on 'The X Factor' to make big money will be in for a big shock.

I've never bought a Dylan record. A singing poet? It just bores me to tears. I've got to tell you, if I had 10 Dylans in the final of 'American Idol,' we would not be getting 30 million viewers a week. I don't believe the Bob Dylans of this world would make 'American Idol 'a better show.

I want people to understand that from the minute Lady Gaga arrived, she created a new set of rules: being different is good; embrace it.

Whether they run a record company or a grocery store, every boss will tell you you're in big trouble if you're borrowing more than you can ever afford to pay back. Delaying the pain for future generations is suicidal. We've got to start getting the deficit down right now, not next year.

I met someone the other night who's 28 years old, and he hasn't worked a day since he left college because he's pursuing a dream he'll never, ever realize: He thinks he's a great singer. Actually, he's crap.

Choosing how you vote should not be a snap verdict based on a few minutes of television.

I've spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on the very best security and I can assure you my homes are as safe as the Bank of England.

The object of this competition is not to be mean to the losers but to find a winner. The process makes you mean because you get frustrated.

It's the government's job to encourage entrepreneurialism and investment. Most importantly, it's the government's duty to inspire confidence.

The minute you start assuming that the audience is very happy to see the same show again, you're dead.