Simon Cowell famous quotes

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Jobs #Mean #Kids

I think the best singers in the world, historically, are American. Britain's got its fair share, as well, but some of the greatest singers, ever, whether you're talking about Whitney [Houston] or Mariah [Carey] or Aretha Franklin, are from the legacy here.
-- Simon Cowell

#Thinking #Talking #Houston

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Hate #Mean #Thinking

I never knew how much love and pride I would feel.
-- Simon Cowell

#Pride #Feels

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#People #Being Different #Want

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

#Careers #Advice #Want

My attitude is, if someone's going to criticize me, tell me to my face.
-- Simon Cowell

#Attitude #Criticism #Faces

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Thinking #Marketing #Fans

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#People #Today #Likes

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?
-- Simon Cowell

#Years #Who Cares #Botox

Most things in music go full circle eventually.
-- Simon Cowell

#Circles #Full Circle

Not everybody is perfect, and I don't think we should be looking for perfect people.
-- Simon Cowell

#Thinking #People #Perfect

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Hate #Thinking #Nuts

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

#Mean #Competition #Frustrated

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

#Crush #Dream #Way

You didn't beat the compotition you crushed the compotition!
-- Simon Cowell

#Beats #Crushed

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.)
-- Simon Cowell

#Country #Eight #Idols

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Hard Work #Criticism #Patient

I've always treated the music business as a business.
-- Simon Cowell

#Music Business #Treated

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

#Halloween #Monsters #Doe

That was extraordinary. Unfortunately, extraordinarily bad.
-- Simon Cowell

#Extraordinary

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#People #Decision #Shows

If you've got a big mouth and you're controversial, you're going to get attention.
-- Simon Cowell

#Attention #Mouths #Controversial

People confuse ego, lust, insecurity with true love.
-- Simon Cowell

#People #Ego #Insecurity

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)
-- Simon Cowell

#Song #Hero #Idols

I actually don't understand a word Paula's saying anymore. It's like a new language.
-- Simon Cowell

#Hilarious #Language

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."
-- Simon Cowell

#Good Luck #Hard Work #Car

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Hard Work #Thinking #People

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#People #Records #Arguing

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Artist #Tv Shows #Feelings

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Believe #Feel Better #Work Out

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Thinking #Unhappy #Honest

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Thinking #Nuts #America

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Country #Zero #Years

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Dream #Night #College

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Believe #Idols #Singing

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Artist #Thinking #Years

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Numbers #Issues #Long

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Attitude #Choices #Decision

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Ego #Littles #Too Much

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Jobs #People #Looks

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

#Nice #Flattery #Stranger

Maybe I am a bit mad.
-- Simon Cowell

#Mad #Insanity

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

#Music #Artist #Stay Focused

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

#Thinking #Needs #Gestures

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

#School #Levels #Three

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Pride #Mind #Kind

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

#Advice #Looks #Good Advice

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

#Interesting #Personality #Conflict

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Air #Tape #Hours

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?
-- Simon Cowell

#Stupid #People #Important

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

#Failure #Contemplating

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

#Loss #Weight Loss #Secret

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

#Beauty #Looking Good #Used

The biggest shock when I lost it all was the realization that so much of my life had been out of my control. When I started to make the money back, I vowed that it would never happen again. I bought things only when I could afford them. There was no big mortgage, no cars on hire purchase. I remember buying a TR6 sports car for £6,000, and funnily enough it gave me more pleasure than the Porsche ever had.
-- Simon Cowell

#Sports #Car #Realization

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Real #Tomatoes #Half

It would hurt my feelings if I respected your opinions.
-- Simon Cowell

#Hurt #Feelings #Opinion

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

#Dad #Son #Thinking

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

#Life Lesson #Enough

On one level, going bust didn't bother me. It was the 80s, and there wasn't the stigma about bankruptcy that you might think. My mates weren't bothered. My dad was in business.. he knew that it happened, too. He loaned me the money to bail me out, and I got a loan from the bank to pay him back.
-- Simon Cowell

#Dad #Business #Thinking

Every single negative can lead to a positive. Any negative situation... don't get too down about it - you'll work it out. You learn it as you go along. You don't get smart at 17. You just don't unless you're one of a billion. it will happen over time and it's the getting there which will be the most fun.
-- Simon Cowell

#Fun #Smart #Negative

Harshness to me is giving somebody false hopes and not following through. That's harsh. Telling some guy or some girl who've got zero talent that they have zero talent actually is a kindness.
-- Simon Cowell

#Girl #Zero #Kindness

It simply works. You do it twice a year. Who cares? And it balances my smoking and drinking.
-- Simon Cowell

#Drinking #Years #Smoking

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

#Thinking #Genius #Actors

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

#Hands #Hello #Shakes

It was like orderin a hamburger and getting only the buns
-- Simon Cowell

#Criticism #Hamburgers #Buns

We felt the time was right to open up the boundaries, and say to all of America, regardless of your age, whether you're 2, whether you're 100, regardless of what you believe your talent is - juggling, magic, singing - this is the show you can enter. It's as simple as that.
-- Simon Cowell

#Believe #Simple #America

I genuinely believed no one would want to marry me. I am difficult to live with. I'm selfish, quite weird and I need time on my own to think - and then I work all night long. That is difficult for someone to deal with. And it would drive me mad - I could never be my own girlfriend!
-- Simon Cowell

#Girlfriend #Selfish #Night

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.
-- Simon Cowell

#Song #Tv Shows #Broken