Philippe Petit Quotes

They put me in a harness, like a horse, to learn the back somersault. It was weird up there when I put on that harness for the first time. The courage came with practice.

I think to be courageous, you have to be afraid. For me, it feels very courageous when I go skiing because I'm very, very afraid to ski. It's dangerous! I feel very scared. But when I'm acting, I don't feel very scared.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

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

I, like everybody else, have a certain fear of heights, and I have to be very careful when I am in the clouds, but it is also what I love; it is my domain, so when you love something, you don't have fear.

I still get scared every time I go out. I get scared taking off; I get scared on the wave, falling, everything. But, you know, growing up with it, I guess you're a little more comfortable.

It's dangerous to assert oneself.

A lot of people ask me when I do a stunt, 'Jackie, are you scared?' Of course I'm scared. I'm not Superman.

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.

When I decided to stay in Iraq, I decided to take the fear out of my body and put it into a freezer.

A lot of the physical flirtation with fear I did early on in my career, when I was a much younger person - stuff I wouldn't do now. But I was very interested in the mechanics of risk and fear in those days. And I found out fear pretty much always feels the same, whether it's doing a rock climb or speaking in front of an audience.

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

As a high wire walker, I do not allow myself to 'leave the wire' during a performance.

Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.

Acting is like a high wire act. Your margin for error is very slim.

All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary.

I don't feel like I have anything to lose, so I don't really understand what I'm putting at risk.

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.

A person's fears are lighter when the danger is at hand.

We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death.

When we are afraid we ought not to occupy ourselves with endeavoring to prove that there is no danger, but in strengthening ourselves to go on in spite of the danger.

Get more confidence by doing things that excite and frighten you.

Risks, I like to say, always pay off. You learn what to do, or what not to do.

I am used to playing with fire. Somebody has to do it.