Simon Cowell
I am quite miserable because I'm never satisfied with what I've got. You're always looking for that next high, and that is what I would define as happiness.Collection: Happiness
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.Collection: Attitude
I couldn't think of anything worse than being in an unhappy marriage. It worries me because I've seen it destroy people.Collection: Marriage
The only magazines I read are car magazines.Collection: Car
I was bought an electric guitar when I was 12, but my guitar teacher beat me up. I didn't like guitar lessons and I got quite bored. My teacher was obviously bored giving me lessons, and one day I offered him a liquorice toffee, but he didn't answer. So I threw it at him, it hit him in the face, and he sort of beat me up.Collection: Teacher
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.Collection: Patience
My attitude is, if someone's going to criticize me, tell me to my face.Collection: Attitude
People confuse ego, lust, insecurity with true love.Collection: Love
The secret of my success is that I make other people money. And, never ever, ever, ever be ashamed about trying to earn as much as possible for yourself, if the person you're working with is also making money. That's life!Collection: Money
I don't want to tell a 15 or 14 year old what they should be doing. I want them to tell me. And that's what I got when I met Justin Bieber for the first time.
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 was 12 years old when I first realized that food could be hot. That's why I turned out the way I am.
I hated school, but I love work.
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.
You don't go into anything contemplating failure, because if you did, you wouldn't make it.
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.
Holding auditions in front of an audience is testing.
I probably get more satisfaction from making a show than being on a show.
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 so badly.
There was nothing I could - and wanted to - learn in school. It was just a complete waste of my time.
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.
Most things in music go full circle eventually.
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.
Thank God kids love following an artist. When you get a group who pop, it's the best thing in the world.
When you're making a reality show, you can't even plan a week ahead now.
I'm not that musical. I don't really know how a record is produced, and, funnily enough, I don't want to.
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.
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.
If you only ever heard Lady Gaga, she's the most boring singer in the world.
In TV, film, and music there's a lot of snobbery, and I don't like it. I've never been a cultural snob.
When you get your first pay cheque, it's the best feeling in the world.
I still put punctuation in my texts. If it's an 'I', I make sure it's a capital.
You always want to go to a party where you get an invite.
I didn't have any qualifications when I left school - I had three O-levels.
I was never given any hand-outs. I started at the bottom and was very good at finding people who knew more than me and learning from them.
I'd say the most dangerous thing I've ever done is probably bungee jumping in Thailand.
I like spaghetti bolognese, I like baked beans on toast. I hate French food. I hate fancy food.
No one really has any job security anymore, including myself.
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.
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.
There's no need for me to get married. I live with someone; we're happy; end of story.
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.
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.
You know what the secret to weight loss is? Don't eat much.
I think of stress as the creator of cancer and heart attacks, like a tiny little ball you feed. I believe that one of the reasons I've never got ill is that I'm not stressed.
I break up very well. I am a good breaker-upper.
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.
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 got good advice once. Someone said to me: 'Live in your money rather than look at it.'
I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics.