Simon Cowell Quotes

My attitude is, if someone`s going to criticize me, tell me to my face.

They (Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson) loved him. I couldn`t stand him (Taylor Hicks). I didn`t get it. At the end of the day you have to find a bona fide recording artist. Just because you win the show doesn`t mean you will sell a lot of records. Chris (Daughtry) is the one who sold the albums, not Taylor.

If your lifeguard duties were as good as your singing, a lot of people would be drowning.

I don`t take myself seriously and I don`t consider myself a star.

We`ve done three seasons of American Idol and by now it is safe to assume that most people know that you have to be able to sing. But people turn up who can`t sing a note and yet they believe they are the Second Coming.

If you`ve got a big mouth and you`re controversial, you`re going to get attention.

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

I do a couple of hundred press-ups a day but I haven`t been to a gym in years.

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.

The end of the animal trade would leave more time to trap or beat to death pop star wannabes.

If you would have asked me what I thought of America before I came over here I would have used the word `corny`. And then you come over here and you find that it`s not corny at all. British people are very cynical, they cannot bear someone else`s success. Americans embrace other people`s success. Everything in America is larger than life.

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

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.

(Asked if he feels guilty about what he says to the American Idol contestants) "No, what I am doing is kind by telling people who are useless `Do something that you`re good at`. So I would only feel guilt if I misled somebody who was terrible."

I don`t think I can do this anymore.

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.

I`d accept an honour but I don`t think I`m likely to get one. The Queen once described me as a dreadful man

You are a saucy little thing aren`t you?

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.

(To the infamous Keith who sang a horrible rendering of `Like a Virgin`) "Keith, last year I described someone as being the worst singer in America. I think you`re possibly the worst singer in the world ... I`ve never, ever heard anything like that in my life, ever."

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 don`t want babies the same way I wouldn`t want a puppy. It`s too much responsibility.

Sit in these auditions for three weeks and hear I Believe I Can Fly" out of tune for the millionth time, YOU try and be nice"

(On Michael Jackson) "The guy is off his rocker."

To a Pop Idol contestant: "Let me throw a mathematical dilemma at you - there`s 500 left, well how come the odds of you winning are a million to one?"

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

I think that by ignoring the show you`re ignoring the audience who put you there.