“The most important thing, the biggest love of my life, is my snooker. I’ve never been so emotionally ingrained in something – in a person, an object, anything – as I have in snooker.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“The relentless pursuit of perfection has been my problem over the years. It’s maybe held me back.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“Even though I was still running well, I didn’t feel good in myself. It’s funny: to the outside world, I looked in great nick – healthy, trim, fit. Everybody was saying, you’re looking well, but I was in pieces. I wasn’t eating my way out of depression, but I was running my way out of my depression. But even the running didn’t always do the trick.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“My dad’s method in his madness was to try every sport and then observe what I liked. I played football, tennis, golf, cricket but I loved my snooker.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“It’s so strange that the more successful you become, the more people want to give you things. And the more you can afford, the more people want to give you things for nothing. It doesn’t seem right.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“Running clears my mind, and gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“I don’t think I suffered from depression, I don’t think I’m a depressed type of person – I just think I suffered a depression to do with snooker, and I just couldn’t handle it. I could go out and play, but take me out of there and I couldn’t do life. It was a nightmare, my life just felt like a bit of a nightmare.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“People think I don’t like interviews but I don’t mind speaking about proper and interesting stuff. When it’s stupid stuff to build your image and you are told to mention this and mention that, I hate it.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“I’ve been semi-successful. I’ve done all right but I’m not the player I was. Who do I think will win the world championship? John Higgins. Have I been good for snooker? I don’t know.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“A champion thinks: ‘That’s going in the hole, pot the blue and get on to the pink; that’s the shot.’ Embrace the moment, I told myself. This is what top sport is about, this is how you separate yourself from the pack. You grab these opportunities, and commit.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“So, all in all, the whore’s drawers are back up, and with any luck, they’ll stay that way.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“I just want to live for the moment. Tomorrow’s not important, next month is not important, what’s happened in the past is not important. That is my journey.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“I’ve tried a number of religions and gurus in my time, including Buddhism, but ultimately they didn’t do as much for my peace of mind as snooker.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan v
“When I stopped taking drugs I got really depressed. I was struggling with life. It’s a bit chicken and egg. I was depressed because I’d stopped drinking and taking drugs, but I only drank and took drugs in the first place because I was depressed. Ultimately I’d rather be clean and depressed than on drugs and depressed. At least there’s a way out, and you’re reliant on your natural feelings – if you’re down you really are down; if you’re up, you are genuinely up.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“With all my demons, and my mum away, and dad away, and the drink and drugs, the kids, the maintenance, the keeping fit, the obsessions, the depressions, in between all that I’ve managed to win four world titles, four UKs and four Masters. I don’t know-how. I’ve won 24 ranking events, 10 Premier Leagues, more than 50 tournaments altogether. It’s not bad going for such a fuck-up!” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“A lot of them you see now, you look at them and think, ‘I would have to lose an arm and a leg to fall out of the top 50’. That is why we are still hovering around, because of how poor it is down that end.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“My dream would probably be [to be] a property developer. I love Homes Under the Hammer.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“My a***hole had gone. My fight. I had nothing in me.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“I just kind of imploded and sabotaged it. I wanted to lose. I had a f***ing meltdown. If I’d have won that match I would have had to play Peter f***ing Ebdon for two days.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“Sometimes the game feels ridiculously easy and when it’s not there I get frustrated. I remember recently making a 147 in practice and ripping the tip off my cue afterwards because I still wasn’t happy with how I was hitting the ball.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“I am so peed off with the game and I am bored with it. I would rather be planting a few shrubs in the garden. Hopefully, the match gets abandoned and maybe John Virgo and Willie Thorne come out and play a few trick shots. I really don’t care.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“I remember getting to every World Championship and thinking, ‘I can’t wait till this tournament is over ‘cos then there are no more drug tests, I can go out and smash it.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“I just use snooker, rather than letting it use me.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“I do entertain a lot of negative thoughts and I haven’t got any self-belief. But I haven’t done badly for someone without any self-belief.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan
“A lot of snooker players are too intense and serious. I want to be like Billy the Kid.” – Ronnie O’Sullivan