Simon Cowell Quotes

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.

Normally if I go to one of these things I'm in and out in five minutes, but at Pride of Britain I stay to the end. It's a fantastic show. But it's incredibly hard on the night when you meet all the kids and hear their stories. They do get to you.

The artists who endure are the ones who stay focused even after they have reached the top of their profession.

I have seen that the American Dream is a reality - and I would love to feel the British Dream is also a reality. To enable that, we have to bring back some common sense and encourage family values, a proper sense of justice and make people believe they have a decent chance to build a business or career for themselves. I see this moment as a fantastic opportunity to restore this, because I believe Britain Has Talent.

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.'

You have an advantage if you win. I always think it's best to be remembered as a winner rather than as the runner-up. It's definitely more fun getting the gold than it is the silver.

I was bought an electric guitar when I was 12, but my guitar teacher beat me up. I didn't like guitar lessons... 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.

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.

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

At 20, you're cocky and you think you can rule the world, and you get it all wrong.

One thing I've learnt is you should never fight it. They're natural emotions and when you try and bottle everything up, that's what can make you depressed. Luckily I have fantastic memories [about my parents] and they really help.

I was slightly cynical of the American mentality before I came over here, but now I preach it. Here, no one's going to tear you down if you buy yourself a $300,000 car. They're likely to say: "Well, you probably worked hard for it. Good luck to you."

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

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.

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

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.

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

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'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.

We have hated the French for years. Now you have just joined the club. It makes you much more likable.

You didn't beat the compotition you crushed the compotition!

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.

I'm a great believer in getting checked out because if you know you're OK, you actually feel better; your mind plays a big part of it.

It was like orderin a hamburger and getting only the buns" (After Brooke White of season 7 on american idol sang the song 'Hero' by Mariah Carey)

I honestly can't ever imagine retiring because I don't know what else I would do - even when I'm on holiday, 70% of the time I'm working. I think I'd like to go out on the job so, ideally, 'And the winner is... Ooooh, and he's gone!'

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.

That was extraordinary. Unfortunately, extraordinarily bad.

You sounded like Dolly parton on helium." (After kristy lee cook of season 7 on american idol,sang her country rendition of the Beatles'"Eight Days A Week.)

What luxury would I take to a desert island? A mirror. It's true. I'd miss me.

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.

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 couldn't think of anything worse than being in an unhappy marriage. It worries me because I've seen it destroy people.

I've never liked the idea you have to be a certain age to be a pop star. I like the idea that anybody can enter, anybody can compete.

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.

Maybe I am a bit mad.

I've learned to deal with stress much better now, things don't bother me in the way that they once used to.

I was living life like in one of those Disney movies, where I genuinely believed nobody was ever going to die

Linda McCartney sausages were my favorite. Theyre much better than eating real sausages and you dont have to contemplate half way through exactly whats inside them. ... You can have them, a bit of fried bread, tinned tomatoes. Delicious.

My heart, my lungs, my blood - they've all been checked. I remember one of the doctors almost being disappointed when he showed me the results because he couldn't wait to tell me what smoking was doing to me. But there was nothing there.

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.

I didn't realise how important stupid people are in your life, because you ask yourself, what made stupid people so stupid? What made them the way they are?

I was so tired, wasn't having fun any more, and wasn't sure if I wanted to do this any longer. So I turned my phone off and sorted my head out. It was the opposite of a breakdown really, it was a break-up - I got rid of all the idiots, realised my job was supposed to be fun, and got on with my life.

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.

You don't hate the mosquito; you just want it out of your face.

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.

My life honestly isn't as weird as people think it is. I work longer hours, maybe I have a bit more money, but fundamentally, I'm not really that different.

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.

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