Simon Cowell

“I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics. So forgive me. But I am passionate about this country. I am equally passionate about the potential of the people who live here.”

“I don't have sophisticated tastes. I have average tastes. If you looked in my collection of DVDs, you'd see 'Jaws' and 'Star Wars.' In the book library, you'd see John Grisham and Sidney She...”

“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...”

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

“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 an...”

“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 co...”

“Shave off your beard and wear a dress. You would be a great female impersonator.”

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

“I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics.”

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

“I'm not sure who has the right to say that you have better taste than somebody else, because essentially what you're doing is calling millions of people morons.”

“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 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 automa...”

“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 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.”

“Not everybody is perfect, and I don't think we should be looking for perfect people.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“My proudest achievement has been the success of the shows and artists I have been involved with, because they were made in Britain.”