- [About Mark Johnston-Allen] I keep losing to people who shouldn't be in the same room as me. [At the International Open '95, after losing for the third time out of three meetings. This would be the final time, as Mark retired before they could have a chance for further matches. Stephen subsequently apologized the next time they met, and Mark took his comments in good humor.]
- For reasons I don't understand, I've always been relaxed at the table.
- I love playing in China. The crowds here value success more than British people seem to.
- Steve Davis has found a way of competing to a level that is not as high as it once was, enjoying his wins, and not getting too angry about the defeats.
- It's easy to have a good attitude when you're flying, but you need it when you're up against it as well.
- I loved being the best player in the world. There was no pressure staying there.
- For me, winning was 'job done.' I would practice the day after.
- Unless I can do myself justice and play well, I'm not going to play.
- Even as a boy, my dad always told me, 'Don't show emotion.' If I banged my cue, he would give me a row and say, 'Stop that.' Don't show any petulance. It was developed, certainly, but I think you have got to have it in you.
- When you get a trophy, why go jumping and crying? Winning's a great feeling, but everything else is an anti-climax.
- In any sport at the top level, if you don't put in the hard work, you can be sure someone else is. It is a vicious circle.
- The only way you can get confidence is by winning, and unfortunately, the only way you win is by being confident.
- Going into a tournament with 100 per cent belief you will win it - that's how I've always enjoyed snooker.
- People often write to me, addressing the envelope, 'Stephen Hendry, Snooker Player' or 'Stephen Hendry, Scotland,' and it reaches me.
- When I didn't retain the world title after my first win, which no one's ever done, I was gutted and made my driver take me home straight away. We traveled through the night, and I didn't say a word all the way from Sheffield to South Queensferry.
- I remember far more shots that cost me matches than the ones that won me matches. That is maybe the way you think if you are someone who has won a lot of tournaments and had a successful career.
- In both snooker and poker, you have to play your best under pressure; I was always able to do that. I don't think it is something you can teach. Your mental strength, your confidence, your self-belief has got to be very strong. That is the common denominator.
- When I started, there was never a great history of people doing well in snooker from Scotland. By chance, I got a table for my Christmas. If I hadn't got that, then none of this would have happened.
- These days, you can watch many different sports; you are saturated with it 24 hours a day. And young boys all want to be footballers because you don't even need to be that good, and you can still earn £100,000 a week.
- The best way to deal with aggression is to ignore it and try to get the match over as soon as possible.
- The seven world titles record I hold is the one that means the most to me. There is no doubt about that.
- It's the worst feeling in the world - to lose in the first round at Sheffield and then have to go home - because it's such a long tournament, and it's hard to avoid it. It's on the TV all day every day, and if I lost, I didn't want to be anywhere near snooker.
- The thing is, with century breaks, maximums, ranking tournaments, these sorts of things are automatically going to be broken: it's not if but when.
- The crowd could be tough to deal with at times, but I learned to use them and the way they behaved towards me as strong motivation.
- In the late '80s and early '90s, I took success for granted, winning four or five tournaments a year. I just expected to win them.
- There are some people who never get used to losing at anything, and I am probably one of them.
- I always liked to take on the middle pockets. They're much harder.
- Even when I used to play Jimmy White in Scotland, he would have the majority of the support. That's the only time it would irk me, coming back to Scotland and people still wanting me to lose.
- There are players out there who want to dominate and keep their opponent sitting down. They want to make centuries and win frames at a single visit, and I like to see that.
- It would break my heart to lose playing safe.
- If I'm going to play, I'm going to have to give it 100%, which means I'm going to have to play in all of the tournaments that I don't like.
- I never dreamed, when I received a small table for a Christmas present from my parents, I would have the career that I did or achieve so much.
- The memories for the missed opportunities are stronger than for the ones I managed to get over the line in.
- Snooker is my sanctuary and always has been.
- Ever since I was a kid, I'd imagine that I was making a break to win the world championship.
- To be at the top of my sport you have to have that killer instinct and, when I'm at the table, i'm an animal.
- In all the years I've been playing, I've never considered changing my cue. It was the first cue I ever bought, aged 13, picked from a cabinet in a Dunfermline snooker center just because I liked the Rex Williams signature on it. I saved £40 to buy it. It's a cheap bit of wood, and it's been the butt of other players' jokes for ages.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content