Simon Cowell Quotes - Page 4

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 break up very well. I am a good breaker-upper.

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

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.

My dad wasn't someone who was a great disciplinarian, we had a fun relationship, but he gave me really constructive advice in my life, which I still carry today and I do pass on to other people. So if I can have the same relationship with my son as I had with my dad, then I think he'll be very happy and I'll be very happy.

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.

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."

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.

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

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.

What I'm interested in watching is to make sure that they give the right advice now to the contestants who are going forward because, you know, it's one thing just to criticize but you've got to also give, you know, good advice which is going to help them. Overall, I think they're a good panel.

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

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

It's not our intention to be mean. That's just within us.

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

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.

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

I can't stand stage mothers. It doesn't work. You definitely feel that with the new generation of pop stars right now they've all managed to work it out for themselves. You have to have confidence in that. When you're young, you know your market better than I will. I love having young people on the show because I can learn from them.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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