Alex Higgins

No Alex Higgins, no snooker.

I'm very good when it comes to the crunch.

I could think six shots ahead. It's no different to playing chess.

The reason that I was so quick was because I was impatient. I couldn't wait to hit the next shot.

I think my presence around the table was mesmerising at times. It captured people.

I think I was the most natural, charismatic player who ever lifted a cue.

I just love playing snooker. Every single frame is different. Not one referee ever sets the balls up exactly the same.

Would I have done anything different? I might have put a golf club in my hand instead of a cue. I love watching those guys play. Every situation is different, everything - every shot - has to be so precise.

I might have been a jockey, you know. I started by riding horses bareback and holding on to the mane before they finally threw me off.

I always played on my nerves - on the edge.

I want to be the Cassius Clay of snooker. Cassius is the greatest at boxing and that's what I mean to be at snooker.

I never had any doubts about my ability. The problem was getting into so many scrapes because of my erratic temperament.

By my very nature, I would never achieve a great level of consistency. That's my appeal and my downfall rolled into one.

I invented every shot that has ever been played.

I have been a fighter all my life.

I don't want my kids to live like I do, sweating in a little metal box. I want them to have sunshine. I want them to have light.

I used to play snooker in millionaires' mansions with marble floors and eat at the best places, but that's all over now.

The tobacco companies and snooker were as thick as thieves.

I haven't really had much to do with my life. All I've done is take part in it.

What chance has cancer against me?

I have a strong will-power.

When I was 15, I was about seven stone - the average weight for a kid of 11 in them days was about nine stone. I managed to keep my head down because there was about half a dozen heavies in the class and there was bullying in them days. But I stayed one step ahead of them all the time.

If I'd been from a different background, I could have gone to a grammar school, I suppose. I might have been a different person.

I'm quite a studious person, I think.

Nobody worked as hard to make snooker a popular sport as I did.