Philippe Petit Quotes
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On one day of the week, I relax - which is not true, I work furiously on other things. 'Relax' is not a word to me.
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For me, since I have a life wish, not a death wish, for me, I was not gambling my life. I was doing something much more beautiful. I was carrying my life across.
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I was thrown out of different schools because I was practicing my arts - magic, juggling, and the high wire.
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Wire-walking in performance is one thing - I never fell, of course. If I had, I wouldn't be here talking about it.
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Death frames the high wire. But I don't see myself as taking risks. I do all of the preparations that a non-death seeker would do.
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I focus, I invent, I transform, I challenge, I attempt, I observe, I perform.
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If I am practicing on the wire, and you pushed me, I would not move, and if you take a piece of wood and beat me up on the shoulder and the head, I would not move. You would not put me out of balance. You would not be able to. I am solid as granite when I am on the tight rope, and I should be.
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There was a time when fire and story would fall asleep in unison. It was dream time.
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I would not describe my personality. And I think when you describe people, you are making a mistake. That's not how they are; that's how you perceive them at that moment. It's limiting in front of something that is magnificent and unlimited: life.
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I am a wire-walker. I can walk any time, anywhere - I'm indestructible.
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I am fascinated by the engineering. The science of constructing and understanding why it stands. And I am drawn by the madness, the beauty, the theatricality, the poetry and soul of the wire. And you cannot be a wire-walker without mingling those two ways of seeing life.
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If I have to make a self-portrait, I would put poetry and rebellion on the list. To be able to walk on a wire, to be able to juggle six hoops, you need focus, another word for tenacity, which is passion.
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On the high wire, within months, I'm able to master all the tricks they do in the circus, except I am not satisfied.
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When I was learning by myself, despite my parents, despite my teachers, despite society, when I was fighting for building my life as a young wire walker at age 16, I didn't have feelings, I had certainties.
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Right after my Twin Towers walk, I was approached by hundreds of people, and I said no to all the offers. I could have become a millionaire overnight, obviously, but I said no, and I continue to be uninterested.
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I started very early, from five or six years old, to climb. To climb trees, to climb rocks everywhere I could. At some point, of course, I used a rope.
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I rendezvous with the long wire and perform the 'torero walk', gliding my feet, holding the pole away from my body, head high.
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I was in art school once a week from six to 16, which was essential in shaping my artistic sensitivity.
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Everybody wanted me to be rich and famous on my art. And I said no to all the commercials and all the seedy offers.
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If a leaf fell from a tree, I'd stop juggling and play with the leaf. I went to my prop bag and got a little bandage and stuck the leaf back on the tree. People loved it.
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In my life, I wanted to meet certain people. I never met Charlie Chaplin, but I met Werner Herzog.
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I hate all electronic things that are supposed to help the human being. You don't smell, you don't hear, you don't touch anymore.
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There is a child inside me that wants to come out and do something to surprise all the adults.
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I walk on the wire; it's my profession, and there are no two high wire walks alike.