Simon Cowell Quotes

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

No, what I am doing is kind by telling people who are useless, "Do something that you're good at".

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.

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

Being different is good; embrace it.

So I would only feel guilt if I misled somebody who was terrible.

I like spaghetti bolognese, I like baked beans on toast. I hate French food. I hate fancy food.

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.

You don't go into anything contemplating failure, because if you did, you wouldn't make it.

People confuse ego, lust, insecurity with true love.

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.

My own saying is: 'Create the hype, but don't ever believe it.'

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

You are a saucy little thing aren't you?

The only magazines I read are car magazines.

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

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

I got good advice once. Someone said to me: 'Live in your money rather than look at it.

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've always treated the music business as a business.

I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics.

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?

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

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

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

I don't mind competition at all. I mean, the record business is the most competitive business in the world, probably. So I'm used to that. In a weird way, it kind of makes you work harder.

You sounded like someone who should be singing on a cruise ship. Halfway through your song, I wished the ship was sinking.

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

Beyonce is good-looking. Jennifer Lopez is good-looking. Madonna used to be good-looking.

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

Maybe I am a bit mad.

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

Sincerity is romantic. I don't think you need gestures.

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

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.'

If I tape an 11-hour day, guess which parts end up on air. Not the bits when I'm pleasant, but the parts when I'm obnoxious.

It's personalities, it's conflict, it's all of these things that actually make performers interesting.

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

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 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.

Talking to celebrities is too much effort. They all think the same.

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 look at him [son Eric] and I think of my dad all the time.... I was born to be a dad.

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

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

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.

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.

Women say hello and then put their hands down my trousers. I thought it was my hand they were supposed to shake.