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

My parents were intelligent and encouraging, but at the same time, they were displeased at me becoming a wandering troubadour and wire walker.

I started very early, from five or six years old, to climb. To climb trees, to climb rocks everywhere I could. At some point, of course, I used a rope.

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

I have been expelled from five different schools when I was a kid. And I learned basically all what I do by myself.

My journey has always been the balance between chaos and order.

I needed more knowledge in rigging and knotting. I started collecting books on knots and really learning more and more. That's how it started. And also in magic, of course. With a piece of rope, you can do magic.

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

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.

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.

The impossible - we are told - cannot be achieved. To overcome the 'impossible,' we need to use our wits and be fearless. We need to break the rules and to circumvent - some would one say to cheat.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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 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 am a thief of knowledge, and in a survival way, I had to solve all the problems around me.

Faith is what replaces doubt in my dictionary.

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.

It's very easy to walk on a wire if you spend a whole lifetime practicing for it.

I started putting a wire up in secret and performing without permission. Notre Dame, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the World Trade Center. And I developed a certitude, a faith that convinced me that I will get safely to the other side. If not, I will never do that first step.