When we play in the Pro Tour there's no crowds in, so you can concentrate better. The others play better as well, there's players who can't play too good on TV but on the floor when it's nice and quiet they can bang them in, let me tell you.
— Phil Taylor
I can sit down and watch the Discovery channel and see something on nuclear submarines that gets me thinking about torpedoes and darts . Or I can see a documentary about someone preparing for a big challenge and I'll use the same techniques. You always need to aim to get better.
I don't know why I am liked. I think it's probably because I've just been normal, not been flash or tried to hurt anybody. I'm not one for going out and going to nightclubs. I'd rather stay in and watch a good movie.
I'm a quiet man.
People will know if you are telling the truth or lying. If you are doing commentary, why not tell the truth?
I believe I'll still be winning world titles at 50 and beyond.
When I was 30 I became world champion and that's when I started to make a living.
I am on a fat-free diet for most of the year, but before 'the worlds,' I tend to relax on the diet a bit to concentrate on darts.
I love liver and onions or a roast dinner.
It's not just the winning I like, it's the affection you get for winning. It's a lovely feeling, that.
You can get spoilt in this game, you know. You reach the point where you get a new car and don't get excited about it. You get complacent, and that's what you've got to watch for.
I hate suitcases. With a passion.
Down the years, I have always enjoyed playing Raymond van Barneveld. There is always a frisson of excitement in the air, an edge to the contest that makes the sap rise, but it stops short of pure enmity.
I treat Adrian Lewis as if he were my own son.
I do get addicted to stuff. I tried playing golf and I was soon going twice a day.
It's been marvellous. I've had a fantastic career.
Dad didn't earn a big wage but even if he was really ill he'd go to work.
Money is great for paying the bills and putting food in the cupboard and in the fridge. But winning titles is different altogether. It's what you do, it's your living.
Well, when you've got nothing, you're always looking forward to having something.
That first world title has to be the most wonderful moment and to beat Bristow, the No 1 in the world, was the ultimate. There's not many matches I remember, but I do remember that one, remember playing really, really well. Bristow was so upset he wouldn't talk to me for a few weeks after I beat him.
You don't realise the power of TV, it's all over the world obviously, and it's lovely.
There's only one thing better than winning 14 world titles - and that's winning 15.
Like Sir Alex Ferguson, I was so used to winning that I couldn't get used to the idea of losing.
During the year, when I'm not doing major tournaments, I'll go to the gym for about two to three hours in the morning and practise darts in the afternoon.
Some tournaments are played in one day - you might start at nine o'clock in the morning and it won't end till one o'clock the next morning.
In 1990 I qualified to play in the World Championships for the first time. I was ranked 125-1 to win but I knew I could do it.
We had this little yard, and during the summer holidays, when my mum and dad were working, I spent hours bowling a golf ball at a stick. Just bowling, bowling, bowling. And I got to where I could hit the stick every time, repeating the same action. That's where the darts came from.
Stoke's a depressed area, so people are working hard to get out of it.
If I'm on a bus and an old lady gets on, I get up.
Boxers Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank would not have missed their rivalry for all the world, and I don't mind a bit of needle in darts if it helps to pay the bills.
I used to watch a lot of people and think, 'You're not dedicated.' It's half an hour into the game and they have dropped their standard. They weren't putting the effort in.
Everything goes with age. Your eyesight, your energy levels.
I worked as an engineer before going into ceramics, making insulators. It was my job, so I got it done. But I also had a lot of pride in myself.
My mum and dad worked in the pottery industry.
Money doesn't mean anything. It's just money.
My parents had nothing - just basic wages for all their hard work.
When I see myself on TV, it's like watching a film with Bruce Willis in it. You think it's somebody else. It's weird.
When I won the worlds in 1990, I won 70 out of the next 72 or 74 tournaments.
You can't afford to be lazy in this business, and in the past I've used all the travelling and the hotels as an excuse not to stick to exercise regimes and looking after myself.
Made a fortune, made millions but it's not everything.
If you cut the fat out of your diet you feel more energetic, for sure.
I'm good friends with Robbie Williams because we both grew up in Stoke and our dads went to the same pubs. His dad, Pete, is like my second dad, I can talk to him about anything and I see him most weeks. And Rob is brilliant, a really generous, lovely bloke.
After I left school at 16 I had three jobs: I worked in a ceramics factory, where I made toilet handles, I repaired cars for people and in the evenings and weekends I worked in a bar. I had to do them all to make ends meet.
It's good to remember where you come from.
I grew up in Mill Hill. All potteries, mining. Then once Maggie Thatcher closed the pits down, it became a bit depressed.
Without me there wouldn't be a PDC.
In any sport, you need a rival.
The world is a dangerous place and I've had a nice fanbase without any of the hassle.
I want to win, I've still got the fire in the belly to win, it's just the old utensils are not working as good as they used to.
Mum was nuts - you'd get a bucket of water over you if you refused to get out of bed.
