SIMON COWELL

I don't like people who are hypocritical, who pretend to be nice, particularly in show business when they're nice on camera, and then off camera they're absolutely appalling to the makeup people, or the waitress in a restaurant, you know? I don't like - I can't bear those kind of people. So I like people who are, you know, up front in your face.

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.

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.

Would I like kids? If I knew I could be - and how could I put this delicately - faithful, then yes. I do like kids.

I'm obsessed with cleanliness for myself, so I will take a bath three times a day, sometimes a steam twice a day in addition to that.

Every show I've ever, you know, produced, essentially it's the show I want to watch myself.

Rules equal boredom, and I don't like that.

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

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.

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

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'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.

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

Anything I shouldn't laugh at makes me laugh. I mean, I'm bad at that, when somebody is singing something terribly and I'm thinking to myself, 'If I laugh now, this is the absolute worst thing I could ever do,' and then I start laughing and I can't stop.

It's not my habit to kiss and tell. I've never done it.

There was nothing I could - and wanted to - learn in school. It was just a complete waste of my time.

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.

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.

When I look at it now, the whole punk thing is sort of comedy in a weird way.

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

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

I should get a dog. I would get a rescue dog. I like mutts; I don't care. I would probably get a three-legged dog no one else would want.

When I think of invention, I always think of America. You're always seeing ads: 'Have you got the next big idea?' There seems to be that spirit in America of inventions and inventors.

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 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.