Simon Cowell Quotes

I believe that no matter how many mistakes we’ve made; how badly we’ve really, really screwed up; how old, worn out, or dejected we’ve become; as long as there is true, steadfast ambition, all of us have an opportunity for greatness.

A dream dirty and bruised is better than no dream at all.

I was kicked out of The Stars And Stripes twice, and finally got back in.

There's nothing as exciting as a comeback - seeing someone with dreams, watching them fail, and then getting a second chance.

This whole thing about winning and losing is muddy waters. But I can remember, as a young actor, just walking around this city and not being able to get arrested.

I always wanted to be an actor, even when I was a little kid. When I used to run away from home, I'd go to movies and sit all night watching Kirk Douglas. When I was 16, I tried getting into the Actors Studio, and they told me to get lost. I said 'I'll come back when I'm a man,' and I came back when I was 30.

The beginning of my political career was not promising. I ran for junior class president at Shortridge High school and was runner up. I ran again in the senior year with the same result. But opportunity came ironically, or fortunately, when I returned to Indianapolis after serving in the Navy.

I'm an example of why people deserve second chances.

Like everyone else in this world, I have had struggles. There's disappointment and obstacles in everybody's life. I feel like I was writing 'Second Chance' not just for myself, but also for the people who have struggled.

My favorite fruit is grapes. Because with grapes, you always get another chance. 'Cause, you know, if you have a crappy apple or a peach, you're stuck with that crappy piece of fruit. But if you have a crappy grape, no problem - just move on to the next. 'Grapes: The Fruit of Hope.'

When I got out of high school, I wanted to be an actor but was getting a lot of rejections. I was getting rejected by life. My mother, God rest her soul, told me not to quit.

I hit rock bottom, but thank God my bottom wasn't death.

I like to think that even if we make some really bad choices and go down some bad paths, we'll eventually emerge from it.

I was rejected by casting directors during the day. I attended class in the evening, then rode 90 miles on the train home.

I failed at the biggest things there are in life. I failed in my health, I failed in my marriage, I failed in everything, and I've picked myself up and gone on.

I didn't get my first pilot that I screen-tested for, and I really thought it was the end of the world. But it's fine, you know, you move on to something else.

'The bigtime for you is just around the corner.' They told me that first in 1952 - boy, it's been a long corner. If I don't hit the bigtime in the next 25 or 30 years, I'm gonna pack in the music business and become a full-time gigolo.

I arrived in California with no job, no car, and no money, but, like millions of other girls, a dream.

On paper, my history says that my future was not very promising. But through grace, I have the opportunity to prove that where you start is not where you have to end up.

Come and try me. Forget the past, if it makes you sad. I am the Land of the Second Chance. I am the Land of Beginning Again. I will not ask who your ancestors were. I want You- nothing matters now but just you and me, and we will make good together" This is the invitation of the prairie to the discouraged and weary ones of the old lands, whose dreams have failed, whose plans are gone wrong and were ready to fall out of the race.

When I felt I was rejected by my first wife, and she said, 'Some day you will thank me for this,' you know what? I do. And so, sometimes it is darkest before the dawn. You can think it is bleak and you can't see. You never know.

Delegations from all over the world visit Homeboy Industries and scratch their heads as we tell them of our difficulty in placing our people in jobs after their time with us. Americans' seeming refusal to believe in a person's ability to redeem himself strikes these folks as foreign indeed.

I audition for a lot and don't get a lot.

I was written off as a lost cause. But I'm living proof that miracles can happen.

I was born in a tiny place in Ivory Coast, so being a protagonist in this life is a dream.