Top 192 Quotes & Sayings by Simon Cowell - Page 2

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

Most things in music go full circle eventually.

I grew up when the whole Motown thing was huge. The charts in those days were dominated by groups more than solo artists at one point.

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.

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.'

Everyone who turns up on 'X Factor' does it because a door has been closed to them at some time in their lives, and this is the only shot they have got.

When I think of invention, I always think of America. You're always seeing ads: 'Have you got the next big idea?' There seems to be that spirit in America of inventions and inventors.

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

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'm going to give all my money away, eventually. I don't believe in all this hand-down stuff. Even if I had kids, I don't think I'd want to give them everything.

Have I got a black book? Yes, it's called a mobile phone. I do get offers. There is no shortage of people if you want to go on dates - working in TV, living in L.A., it is there if you want it.

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.

The only magazines I read are car magazines.

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?

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

I'd say the most dangerous thing I've ever done is probably bungee jumping in Thailand.

The young people working for me are ambitious and hard-working. That work ethic has always been a trait of the British.

I've always treated the music business as a business.

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.

I can't admit things; that's why I can't go to funerals and stuff like that. I find it very, very difficult to deal with that kind of reality. I shut myself off totally because it affects me so badly.

I don't like kids that are pushed into things by stage mums, but when I can see they are having a good time, they're excited and enjoying the process, then I think it's wrong to discriminate.

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.

What I would argue in my defence is that shows like 'Britain's Got Talent' and 'The X Factor' have actually got people more interested in music again and are sending more people into record stores.

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.

Would I like kids? If I knew I could be - and how could I put this delicately - faithful, then yes. I do like kids.

No one really has any job security anymore, including myself.

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

I think America is a hard nut to crack. But once you get a toehold, it's a great place for an entrepreneur because people are so enthusiastic, and you have the most enthusiastic audiences in world.

There's no need for me to get married. I live with someone; we're happy; end of story.

In TV, film, and music there's a lot of snobbery, and I don't like it. I've never been a cultural snob.

I think of stress as the creator of cancer and heart attacks, like a tiny little ball you feed. I believe that one of the reasons I've never got ill is that I'm not stressed.

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.

As an actor, I really like Philip Seymour Hoffman. I think he's a genius.

I'm obsessed with cleanliness for myself, so I will take a bath three times a day, sometimes a steam twice a day in addition to that.

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

I probably get more satisfaction from making a show than being on a show.

I turned down many chances to be on TV before 'Pop Idol' because I really wasn't interested in being famous. I didn't need it and didn't want it.

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

There was nothing I could - and wanted to - learn in school. It was just a complete waste of my time.

I still put punctuation in my texts. If it's an 'I', I make sure it's a capital.

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

I could just sit back and get someone to spin my achievements, I suppose, but when I see others do it, I always think, 'Why are you telling me how successful you are?' I am always suspicious of those kinds of boasts.

Sometimes when you have a record out, you think you're going to go in at No. 1 but you go in at No. 8. So your second record has to be better. That's how I treat it.

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

When I look at it now, the whole punk thing is sort of comedy in a weird way.

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.

You always want to go to a party where you get an invite.

Britain's got talent, enormous talent; that's very obvious.

I'm not that musical. I don't really know how a record is produced, and, funnily enough, I don't want to.

I work out three or four times a week, I have Botox, take tons of vitamins and vitamin infusions - if you believe that these things work, you will feel better.

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

Holding auditions in front of an audience is testing.

My advice would be if you want to pursue a career in the music business, don't.

Praise a stranger with a few nice words and he becomes a stranger that calls you a friend.

The best way to kill someone is from the inside, by crushing their hopes and dreams.

Work hard, be patient, and be a sponge while learning your business. Learn how to take criticism. Follow your gut instincts and don't compromise.

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

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. Kids turn up unrehearsed, wearing the wrong clothes, singing out of tune and you can either say, "Good job" and patronize them or tell them the truth, and sometimes the truth is perceived as mean.

It would hurt my feelings if I respected your opinions.

That was extraordinary. Unfortunately, extraordinarily bad.