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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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" When art in general, and film in particular, succeeds is when it pulls you away onto a voyage. Then it's a good film. "

Philippe Petit

Film

Art

Away

" It is treacherous on a high wire to change your focus point and suddenly look down. "

" An intellectual challenge presents itself? I am in bliss. Instantly, it brings forth the notion of triumph. "

" I was never part of the sailing circle, but I enjoy when I'm invited to sail. "

" 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. "

" I have a fear of water, believe it or not. To put a wire 12 feet over a swimming pool frightens me. I don't like water. "

" Notre Dame and Sydney - that was nothing. Notre Dame doesn't have a police station; it is not 1,000 or so feet high. It was a public structure, very easy to access. And Sydney Harbour Bridge was half-and-half: a bridge, in the middle of the night. The World Trade Center was the end of the world. Electronic devices, police dogs. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Metaphorically speaking, of course, if I put a problem behind my pillow and fall asleep, very often because my brain went to sleep with that idea or the problem alive, very often in the middle of the night I wake up, and I wake up with a solution or with a direction of solution. "

" I've frowned at the idea of breaking records, the first one to do something, or do it longer, higher, more difficult. "

Philippe Petit

First

Higher

" On a very long and very high wire, I will not hope to not be blown off by high winds. I will have the certitude that such could not happen. "

" Every year, I am conscious of the anniversary of my 1974 World Trade Center walk. "

" You see, it's actually very good that a human activity is performed very close to death, because that's where life is. Life is, at its most valuable and most full, very close to the boundary of life. "

" How could I share with you how I felt when two towers that I loved, two pieces of steel and glass and concrete fell down, when actually they took with them thousands of human lives? That is the actual tragedy. But those towers were almost human for me. I was in love with them, and that's why I married them with a tight rope. "

Philippe Petit

You

Tragedy

" I walk on the wire; it's my profession, and there are no two high wire walks alike. "

" This moment where we think we rest, when the brain is floating, you know, in sleep, is actually a moment where I could be very creative in a very strange, uncontrolled way. "

" There was a time when fire and story would fall asleep in unison. It was dream time. "

" 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. "

Philippe Petit

Wood

Balance

" Fame was never something I was seeking in my artistic journey. It's to be used as a tool for an artist to break open doors and keep creating. That's how I enjoyed fame in '74; it was not just for the emptiness of being famous. "

" I focus, I invent, I transform, I challenge, I attempt, I observe, I perform. "

" 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. "

" I am the poet of the high wire - I never do stunts; I do theatrical performances. "

" 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. "

Philippe Petit

Death

Life

" My first walk illegally at 20 years old was between the towers of Notre Dame. "

" I'm a wire-walker, but actually, I'm a moviemaker that hasn't done his first movie. "

" 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. "

" I love to remember the World Trade Centre walk, but it should not define me. "

" 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. "

" I started making monkey bridges, like kids do, and climbing and rappelling with ropes. Very naturally, I needed some knots. At the very beginning, I didn't care, I didn't know, and then slowly I started to know, and I started to care. I wanted to know more knots or the right knot for the special action. "