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.
An intellectual challenge presents itself? I am in bliss. Instantly, it brings forth the notion of triumph.
Faith is what replaces doubt in my dictionary.
Passion is the motto of all my actions.
On the high wire, within months, I'm able to master all the tricks they do in the circus, except I am not satisfied.
I love to remember the World Trade Centre walk, but it should not define me.
There is a child inside me that wants to come out and do something to surprise all the adults.
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.
I was in art school once a week from six to 16, which was essential in shaping my artistic sensitivity.
My journey has always been the balance between chaos and order.
To be able to create fully, it's maybe fine that you learn the rules, but you have to forget and to rebel against those rules.
I was never part of the sailing circle, but I enjoy when I'm invited to sail.
Everybody wanted me to be rich and famous on my art. And I said no to all the commercials and all the seedy offers.
I did a walk in 1973 illegally in the northern side of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
Every year, I am conscious of the anniversary of my 1974 World Trade Center walk.
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.
What I think tailors the creativity of most people are the rules that we learn from the age we are very small - in school, our parents.
I was thrown out of different schools because I was practicing my arts - magic, juggling, and the high wire.
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 will never fall prey to celebrity because I am too busy. I have other things to do than look at myself in the mirror.
I am a wire-walker. I can walk any time, anywhere - I'm indestructible.
I rendezvous with the long wire and perform the 'torero walk', gliding my feet, holding the pole away from my body, head high.
Wire-walking in performance is one thing - I never fell, of course. If I had, I wouldn't be here talking about it.
If I see three oranges, I have to juggle. And if I see two towers, I have to walk.
In my life, I wanted to meet certain people. I never met Charlie Chaplin, but I met Werner Herzog.
I walk on the wire; it's my profession, and there are no two high wire walks alike.
I would like to continue to tell stories of what I did in a biographical way, so I will continue to write.
I've frowned at the idea of breaking records, the first one to do something, or do it longer, higher, more difficult.
My parents wanted me to have an honorable profession and not to be a jester.
I am not up there by chance. I am there by choice. And I know the wire. And I know my limits. And I am a madman of details.
