Philippe Petit Quotes
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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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It's very normal - when you're not used to the world of the high wire, it's very normal to be simply terrified. The reason I'm not is because I've done it for so many years.
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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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I was thrown out of different schools because I was practicing my arts - magic, juggling, and the high wire.
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I focus, I invent, I transform, I challenge, I attempt, I observe, I perform.
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When I was six years old, I fell in love with magic. For Christmas, I got a magic box and a very old book on card manipulation. Somehow, I was more interested in pure manipulation than in all the silly little tricks in the box.
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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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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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Art is maybe a subversive activity. There is a certain rebellion when you are an artist at heart, even if only in the art of living.
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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 am a wire-walker. I can walk any time, anywhere - I'm indestructible.
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If I see three oranges, I have to juggle. And if I see two towers, I have to walk.
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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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My journey has always been the balance between chaos and order.
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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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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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As I'm studying magic, juggling is mentioned repeatedly as a great way to acquire dexterity and coordination. Now, I had long admired how fast and fluidly jugglers make objects fly. So that's it. I'm 14; I'm becoming a juggler.
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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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It's part of my life to feel like a criminal, to have eyes in my back and see if I'm being followed. It's a feeling that comes from street juggling because I have been arrested so many times.
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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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It is very normal for people on the ground to look at somebody apparently walking in midair and thinking first that person is crazy and thinking secondly that person risks his or her life.
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I walk on the wire; it's my profession, and there are no two high wire walks alike.
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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 rendezvous with the long wire and perform the 'torero walk', gliding my feet, holding the pole away from my body, head high.