John Higgins

“A lot of nasty and untrue things have been said about me.”

“I think $100 at the end of the year doesn't mean a lot to me, but $100 from everyone in the state at the end of the year could mean lots of programs that could be good for Hawaii.”

“We've all got to get away from this idea that the big money's still around.”

“Snooker has just been a British-based sport for such a long time and when I started at 18 the furthest you'd go would be London.”

“It would be fantastic to have the two top-ranked players in the world playing out of the same club.”

“I grew up walking out with no music. I wish I had the bottle to dance on but I can't dance.”

“I didn't make a 147 until few years ago - I just wasn't the sort of player who went for them. But it's like buses I suppose, one comes along and then a few more follow.”

“We've got to have a radical rethink of the way the sport is funded to help the young players develop.”

“Snooker players go into steady decline and lose their intensity after a while. But I will have real purpose the next five years. I want to prove people wrong and win a lot more tournaments.”

“People fell in love with Alex Higgins, a working-class fellow from the back streets of Belfast. That's what brought the game alive.”

“With some other top players I'm part of a company trying to put on events in Europe, especially Germany, but also Poland, Austria, Russia. There's so much talent coming out of the Far East now, and we want the same thing in Europe.”

“It was fantastic when I came into snooker, when tobacco was throwing lots of money at it, and even when they fell away we thought others would come in because of all the TV exposure. But it didn't happen.”

“I was worried when I returned that I might be booed or barracked. Nobody has waved fivers at me. I am touched by the reception since I have come back.”

“I'd rather win than be a showman.”

“The only woman I have played in my career was my wife and I beat her easily! But she wasn't much good.”

“People have been to jail when they're innocent. I knew I would never miss a single ball on a snooker table on purpose and, until then, I was sure the evidence would support me.”