Top 192 Quotes & Sayings by Simon Cowell

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a British entertainer Simon Cowell.
Last updated on December 3, 2024.
Simon Cowell

Simon Phillip Cowell is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of The X Factor and Got Talent franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on the British television talent competition series Pop Idol (2001–2003), The X Factor UK and Britain's Got Talent (2007–present), and the American television talent competition series American Idol (2002–2010), The X Factor US (2011–2013), and America's Got Talent (2006–present). Cowell is the founder and sole owner of the British entertainment company Syco.

I was bought an electric guitar when I was 12, but my guitar teacher beat me up. I didn't like guitar lessons and I got quite bored. My teacher was obviously bored giving me lessons, and one day I offered him a liquorice toffee, but he didn't answer. So I threw it at him, it hit him in the face, and he sort of beat me up.
I am quite miserable because I'm never satisfied with what I've got. You're always looking for that next high, and that is what I would define as happiness.
Shave off your beard and wear a dress. You would be a great female impersonator. — © Simon Cowell
Shave off your beard and wear a dress. You would be a great female impersonator.
I do a couple of hundred press-ups a day but I haven't been to a gym in years.
I was never given any hand-outs. I started at the bottom and was very good at finding people who knew more than me and learning from them.
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 break up very well. I am a good breaker-upper.
You are a saucy little thing aren't you?
When I was young and we got caught pinching apples, we got a smack from the local policeman. Today if that happened he would be sued. There is a tendency to punish the victim, not the criminal. If someone broke into my house or my mum's house, I worry that the burglar has more rights than me.
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.
We have hated the French for years. Now you have just joined the club. It makes you much more likable.
I couldn't think of anything worse than being in an unhappy marriage. It worries me because I've seen it destroy people.
I think you have to judge everything based on your personal taste. And if that means being critical, so be it. I hate political correctness. I absolutely loathe it.
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.
My proudest achievement has been the success of the shows and artists I have been involved with, because they were made in Britain.
I don't think I can do this anymore.
I think that by ignoring the show you're ignoring the audience who put you there. — © Simon Cowell
I think that by ignoring the show you're ignoring the audience who put you there.
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 don't want to tell a 15 or 14 year old what they should be doing. I want them to tell me. And that's what I got when I met Justin Bieber for the first time.
The love I have for my ex-girlfriends will always be there, so I think that's true love.
You don't go into anything contemplating failure, because if you did, you wouldn't make it.
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.
Not everybody is perfect, and I don't think we should be looking for perfect people.
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.
If you've got a big mouth and you're controversial, you're going to get attention.
People confuse ego, lust, insecurity with true love.
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.
Rules equal boredom, and I don't like that.
I'm not sure who has the right to say that you have better taste than somebody else, because essentially what you're doing is calling millions of people morons.
I was 12 years old when I first realized that food could be hot. That's why I turned out the way I am.
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.
When someone asks, 'Does success make you into a monster?' I always say, 'No, it enables you to be a monster.'
If we had to choose one American Idol to go out to dinner with, it would be Fantasia. There are no airs and graces about her... I like her.
You know what the secret to weight loss is? Don't eat much.
I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If I went to a psychiatrist, it would be a long session. I've always thought that I do have a number of issues that probably need dealing with, because I am quite odd in some ways.
I hated school, but I love work. — © Simon Cowell
I hated school, but I love work.
I love producing shows. And so when you're on a show where other people are making decisions you don't necessarily agree with it, after a while you start to feel like a passenger.
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.
My own saying is: 'Create the hype, but don't ever believe it.'
I got good advice once. Someone said to me: 'Live in your money rather than look at it.'
If I go into a relationship with an artist, which at most is going to last five years, we have a 100-page contract covering every eventuality. Whereas with marriage you go into it with no contract, with laws that date back hundreds of years, and I don't think that's right.
If your lifeguard duties were as good as your singing, a lot of people would be drowning.
Anything I shouldn't laugh at makes me laugh. I mean, I'm bad at that, when somebody is singing something terribly and I'm thinking to myself, 'If I laugh now, this is the absolute worst thing I could ever do,' and then I start laughing and I can't stop.
I get very anti-social, depressed and irritable with people. I don't have time for them. I can't make phone calls and stuff. I just sit on my own for days.
The only people with power today are the audience. And that is increasing with Twitter, Facebook, and everything else. We cater to their likes and dislikes, and you ignore that at your peril.
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. — © Simon Cowell
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.
I didn't have any qualifications when I left school - I had three O-levels.
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 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.
My attitude is, if someone's going to criticize me, tell me to my face.
When you get your first pay cheque, it's the best feeling in the world.
At 20, you're cocky and you think you can rule the world, and you get it all wrong.
I like spaghetti bolognese, I like baked beans on toast. I hate French food. I hate fancy food.
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.
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