Philippe Petit Quotes
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My parents wanted me to have an honorable profession and not to be a jester.
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Certainly, in the story of my life, the walk between the Twin Towers was one of the grandest, one of the most memorable, but not solely the grandest and the most memorable.
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My parents were intelligent and encouraging, but at the same time, they were displeased at me becoming a wandering troubadour and wire walker.
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It would be very, very dangerous for a wire walker to experience fear while he is balancing on the wire. Fear has its place on earth, before and maybe after a high-wire walk, but not during for me.
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When you are a young person, the world is yours. You can do the impossible.
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Truly, from a very early age, I started distancing myself from other kids, not out of willingness, but just out of the nature of my energy. I liked to do things solely, and I already had a taste of the quest for perfection, which is unusual in a little kid.
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I would like to continue to tell stories of what I did in a biographical way, so I will continue to write.
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I will never fall prey to celebrity because I am too busy. I have other things to do than look at myself in the mirror.
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I am a thief of knowledge, and in a survival way, I had to solve all the problems around me.
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My journey has always been the balance between chaos and order.
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I love to remember the World Trade Centre walk, but it should not define me.
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For years, I have been working on crossing the Grand Canyon. Actually, there is nobody who says 'no,' but since this is a project that comes from me and not a commission, I have to find the money, plan the logistics, etcetera.
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My time is always divided when I prepare for a wire walk. First I dream, technically and artistically, and then I go to work, and I am the master rigger, climbing trees and ladders and constructing. Only then I change my cap and become the performer.
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I didn't go to school much. I was thrown out of different schools, and my university is the street.
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I have been expelled from five different schools when I was a kid. And I learned basically all what I do by myself.
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I have been performing in the street for more than 50 years: magic for basically 60 years, and the high wire 45 years. The beauty of it is that it's never the same. It's never easy. And yet, part of my art is to make it look easy.
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When a loved one disappears, you continue to live with the accompaniment of that person. One has to find a balance between joy and sorrow.
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If you see how carefully I prepare for any kind of walk, legal or illegal, small or big, you will see that, actually, I narrow the unknown to virtually nothing. And that's when I am ready to walk on the wire.
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Faith is what replaces doubt in my dictionary.
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Many people use the words 'death defying' or 'death wishing' when they talk about wire-walking. Many people have asked me: 'So do you have a death wish?' After doing a beautiful walk, I feel like punching them in the nose. It's indecent. I have a life wish.
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It's always easy to describe something complex by applying to it an already known label.
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Of course, the slightest little mistake on the wire will deprive me of my life, so in that sense, yes, it is a dangerous profession. You have to pay attention; if not, you will lose your life.
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I was never part of the sailing circle, but I enjoy when I'm invited to sail.
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My first walk illegally at 20 years old was between the towers of Notre Dame.