20 best Ronnie O’Sullivan quotes: the funniest quips and one-liners from the five-time world champion snooker player

Whether he’s dancing round the green felt or fielding questions press conference Ronnie O’Sullivan is rarely anything other than unmissable to snooker fans.

The five-time world champion drew the ire of some within the sport earlier this week when he, very bluntly, criticised the new generation of snooker talent.

Asked why it was that he and the likes of Mark Williams and John Higgins could still compete despite starting their careers over two decades ago, O’Sullivan let rip at the lack of competition ahead of his quarter-final at the Crucible.

The Essex-born player said: "People like me, John Higgins and Mark Williams, if you look at the younger players coming through, they are not that good really. Most of them would do well as half-decent amateurs, not even amateurs. They are so bad.

"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."

As well as sublime snooker the frustrating genius’ career has been punctuated with weird and wonderful turns of phrase – here are some of our favourites as he continues to progress through the World Championships in Sheffield.

Best Ronnie O’Sullivan quotes

On his dream job: ‘My dream would probably be [to be] a property developer. I love Homes Under the Hammer.’

On success in the face of adversity: “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 f**k-up!”

On match-fixing: “If anyone could get away with it, I could. I could just play one-handed or left-handed, or just put a towel over my head, and pretend I was going nuts. But it’s not something I would or could do. I couldn’t live with myself; I’d feel that was robbing somebody.”

On religion: “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.”

On boredom during the 2005 Grand Prix Final: “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.”

On not winning a tournament for three years: “My a***hole had gone. My fight. I had nothing in me.”

On chasing perfection: “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.”

On losing a World Championship semi-final in 2006: “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.”

On substance abuse: “I remember getting to every World Championship and thinking, ‘I can’t wait till this tournament is over ‘cos then there’s no more drug tests, I can go out and smash it’.”

On his relationship with snooker: “I just use snooker, rather than letting it use me.”

On how he wants to be remembered: “A lot of snooker players are too intense and serious. I want to be like Billy the Kid.”

On hitting a perfect break: “If I don’t make the maximum here, there’s one round the corner mate, I just know. So I never get under pressure. In fact I thrive on it. I weren’t even gonna pot the black on one. I made 140 and thought, you know what: f**k you and your four grand highest break. You can have it. I ain’t even that bothered.”

On slow play: “In snooker if you’re not at the table, you’re sitting in the chair and there’s nothing you can do. You can’t get to your ball and talk to your caddy and say, ‘’He’s playing a bit slow this f***ing idiot here’. In snooker you have to sit in your chair and watch some f***ing numpty poncing about.”

On belief: “I do entertain a lot of negative thoughts and I haven’t got any self-belief. But I haven’t done bad for someone without any self-belief.”

On influencing his son: “This game can f**k your head up like no other game. I have told my son he ain’t f**king playing snooker, because I love him too much.”

On playing snooker in Crawley: “Every day in Crawley is a day lost in my life”

Again, on Crawley: “I don’t know what this gaff is but I’ve just done an interview and all I can smell is urine.”

On winning badly: “My hearts not been in it this year and i’ve not been playing well but I keep on winning.”

On avoiding hitting a 147 break: “I could have got on the black and possibly made a 147. I knew it was 10 grand and I just thought that’s a bit too cheap, really. To make a maxi, it’s such a massive achievement and if they’re going to pay us 10 grand, I think it’s worth a bit more than that.”

On snooker: “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.”