Petit Quotes & Sayings

That experience which does not make us better makes us worse. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

On one side, the mass of a mountain. A life I know.
On the other, the universe of the clouds, so full of unknown that it seems empty to us. Too much space. — Philippe Petit

We forget the origin of a parvenu if he remembers it; we remember it if he forgets it. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

Believe marvels exist around you, inside others, within yourself. Go search for them. Gallop through life and without dismounting your horse manage (like a Cossack!) to pick up bits of otherworldliness lying on the path. Feed your imagination that way. That way, shape your destiny. — Philippe Petit

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

Let us respect gray Lairs, but, above all, our own. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

Without big words, how could many people say small things? — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

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. — Philippe Petit

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. — Philippe Petit

You can always find a way to do something. Now, of course, when I do the action, it's an action that inspires people, it's a gift to people, it's not the other way around, I do not take something, I do not hurt people. Yes, I think today would be more than impossible and yet part of me would think that I continue to think that nothing is impossible. — Philippe Petit

The grave is a crucible where memory is purified; we only remember a dead friend by those qualities which make him regretted. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

I am of the international upper class, the Swedish petit bourgeoisie of Jewish extraction with poor language skills, a conveyor of a few expressions and faces, with some intonation that combines ancient human experience with timely coquetry. — Erland Josephson

I've been arrested many times for illegal high wire walking and illegal street performing. — Philippe Petit

I keep saying I am an auto-didact, but I have a lot of outside influences. One I could cite is juggler Francis Brunn, who was the first man to throw ten rings in the air; he was really an amazing juggler who showed onstage the quest for perfection. — Philippe Petit

It is not what we have but what we enjoy that constitutes our abundance. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

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

There is a proverb in the South that a woman laughs when she can, and weeps when she pleases. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

Though she was intrigued by someone like Claude, the love affairs of a real lesbian like Petit were a matter of complete indifference to Mickey. It seemed to me that our indifference, the indifference of the 'normal' world, made the life of such women even more tragic. For they suffered from their loves, like any other woman, but without the balm of sympathy and understanding. — Tereska Torres

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

If somebody wants a sheep, that is a proof that one exists. — Antoine De Saint-Exupery

The great chastisement of a knave is not to be known, but to know himself. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

An angry woman is vindictive beyond measure, and hesitates at nothing in her bitterness. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

Voles-tu, mon petit papillon." Illium laughed at Galen's instruction to "fly, little butterfly — Nalini Singh

The weak-minded man is the slave of his vices and the dupe of his virtues. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

France is hypocritical and cowardly. I sometimes think that, having been invaded by the Germans, we'd be run better today. — Emmanuel Petit

I had lots of posters on my bedroom wall of players like Zico, many Brazilian and Italian players, not many players in particular but I loved football so much and I especially loved skilful players. — Emmanuel Petit

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. — Philippe Petit

As we all know, poodles are a type of curly-haired dog preferred by petit bourgeois retirees, ladies very much on their own who transfer their affection upon their pet, or residential concierges ensconced in their gloomy loges. Poodles come in black or apricot. The apricot ones tend to be crabbier than the black ones, who on the other hand do not smell as nice. Though all poodles bark snappily at the slightest provocation, they are particularly inclined to do so when nothing at all is happening. They follow their master by trotting on their stiff little legs without moving the rest of their sausage-shaped trunk. Above all they have venomous little black eyes set deep in their insignificant eye-sockets. Poodles are ugly and stupid, submissive and boastful. They are poodles, after all — Muriel Barbery

I don't know anyone who can't learn something from The Little Prince. — Veronica Henry

To endeavor to move by the same discourse hearers who differ in age, sex, position and education is to attempt to open all locks with the same key. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

When you see what is happening with the social network, with Facebook, Twitter and co it is becoming obvious that the reputation of ourselves is becoming more and more important everyday. Image is becoming too much for me, and we are living in a virtual world and sometimes it is very easy to make mistakes. It is more difficult to take responsibility for our mistakes. — Emmanuel Petit

I knew from the moment I heard you, the moment I saw the gun and realized that this lovely, petit woman was the executioner, that you would never die waiting for me to save you - that you would save yourself. — Laurell K. Hamilton

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. — Philippe Petit

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. — Philippe Petit

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. — Philippe Petit

Shaped a little like a loaf of French country bread, our brain is a crowded chemistry lab, bustling with nonstop neural conversations. Imagine the brain, that shiny mound of being, that mouse-gray parliament of cells, that dream factory, that petit tyrant inside a ball of bone, that huddle of neurons calling all the plays, that little everywhere, that fickle pleasuredome, that wrinkled wardrobe of selves stuffed into the skull like too many clothes into a gym bag. - Diane Ackerman — Ray Kurzweil

There are philanthropists who, incapable of managing their own little affairs, take upon themselves those of the whole world; but as their creditors always outnumber their disciples, they owe humanity more than she will ever owe them. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

Do not crowd the understanding; it can comprehend so much and no more. A pint pot will not contain the measure of a quart. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

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

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. — Philippe Petit

I was thrown out of different schools because I was practicing my arts - magic, juggling, and the high wire. — Philippe Petit

For me, when I am on the wire, I do not have a problem of eliminating or blocking fear. I do not really feel fear, although it is a fearful activity to walk in thin air, as I do without any safety device, but I am not fearful. — Philippe Petit

Doubt springs from the mind; faith is the daughter of the soul. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

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. — Philippe Petit

Being a footballer is not just about wearing the shirt and playing football on the pitch. You have to be clean, you have to do right things, you have to show courage, you have to show many many things you know. I always say that you play the same way on the pitch as you do in life. — Emmanuel Petit

There are two times of day in which artistic misanthropes thrive: after everyone else goes to bed, and before everyone else wakes up. — Brandon Gene Petit

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

Our interests are grains of opium to our consciences, but they only put it to sleep for a terrible awakening. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

Footballers nowadays are controlling their image through their own Facebook page so its not the club that controls them anymore, they do what they want at anytime. — Emmanuel Petit

Some delicate matters must be treated like pins, because if they are not seized by the right end, we get pricked. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

You have to grow the same way that you're seeing your own kids grow. — Emmanuel Petit

It's impossible, that's for sure. So let's start working. — Philippe Petit

The essential thing is to etch movements in the sky, movements so still they leave no trace. The essential thing is simplicity. / That is why the long path to perfection is horizontal. — Philippe Petit

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. — Philippe Petit

Little deer, I've stuffed all the world's diseases inside you. / Your veins are thorns // and the good cells are lost in the deep dark woods / of your organs. — Pascale Petit

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

I am very sensitive to all form of music, painting, sculpting, dancing, and I love cinema also. For example if I look at the work of the dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, who happens to be a friend of mine, everything he does is inspiring to me. — Philippe Petit

Genius, like a torch, shines less in the broad daylight of the present than in the night of the past. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

We find ourselves less witty in remembering what we have said than in dreaming of what we would have said. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

I am fascinated by the engineering. The science of constructing and understanding why it stands. And I am drawn by the madness, the beauty, the theatricality, the poetry and soul of the wire. And you cannot be a wire-walker without mingling those two ways of seeing life. — Philippe Petit

My parents wanted me to have an honorable profession and not to be a jester. — Philippe Petit

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. — Philippe Petit

Whenever other worlds invite us, whenever we are balancing on the boundaries of our limited human condition, that's where life starts, that's where you start feeling yourself living. — Philippe Petit

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. — Philippe Petit

In my life, I wanted to meet certain people. I never met Charlie Chaplin, but I met Werner Herzog. — Philippe Petit

Wire-walking in performance is one thing - I never fell, of course. If I had, I wouldn't be here talking about it. — Philippe Petit

How many wells of science there are in whose depths there is nothing but clear water! — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

If I had been born in the circus, my parents would have pushed me on that little high wire at four years old. That's when the body is most limber to learn those acrobatics. — Philippe Petit

I want to keep my own guard, I want to keep my secrets, I want to keep my private life for me. — Emmanuel Petit

Many fortunes, like rivers, have a pure source, but grow muddy as they grow large. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

You must not fall. / When you lose your balance, resist for a long time before turning yourself toward the earth. Then jump. / You must not force yourself to stay steady. You must move forward. — Philippe Petit

This is why the social networks are successful actually, because we are living in a society where people are frustrated with living their own life but in a quiet world so thats why with the internet they are creating a new world and that is why society has changed a lot in the space of 10 years. — Emmanuel Petit

Conscience serves us especially to judge of the actions of others. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

Pleasure and satiety live next door to each other. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

Surrealism was necessary - essential, even - in the 1920s to bridge the gap between rationalism and the subconscious. It started something important. But by the early '60s, it had become petit-bourgeois; it was too intellectual and romantic, and had ground to a halt. It had become respectable. — Alejandro Jodorowsky

Wirewalker, trust your feet! Let them lead you; they know the way. — Philippe Petit

If you're honest all the time for ten years, but then tell one lie, those ten years have meant nothing. Your integrity is lost." "So,", — C.J. Petit

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

If a leaf fell from a tree, I'd stop juggling and play with the leaf. I went to my prop bag and got a little bandage and stuck the leaf back on the tree. People loved it. — Philippe Petit

It is very normal for people on the ground to look at somebody apparently walking in midair and thinking first that person is crazy and thinking secondly that person risks his or her life. — Philippe Petit

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

Religion is the hospital of the souls that the world has wounded. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

To protect ourselves against the storms of passion, marriage with a woman is a harbor in the tempest; but with a bad woman it is a tempest in the harbor. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

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

Public opinion is a courtesan, whom we seek to please without respecting. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

I adore you, mon petit, and would never allow him to hurt you, no matter how gently or madly. — Vladimir Nabokov

The Marxist critique is only a critique of capital, a critique coming from the heart of the middle and petit bourgeois classes, for which Marxism has served for a century as a latent ideology ... The Marxist seeks a good use of economy. Marxism is therefore only a limited petit bourgeois critique, one more step in the banalization of life toward the "good use" of the social! — Jean Baudrillard

I found out that total creativity involves a certain intellectual rebellion - not to become a criminal, but somehow. to be totally creating, you have to do things that are a little bit forbidden. You have to feel free, and we know freedom is a hard thing to get. — Philippe Petit

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

Another life, if it were not better than this, would be less a promise than a threat. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

The practical answer is, no it would be totally impossible for young or foreign people to get access to roof of a building that stands in the heart of a giant city and to put a cable across. — Philippe Petit

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. — Philippe Petit

The politics of courtiers resemble their shadows; they cringe and turn with the sun of the day. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

I am very attracted by the mysterious landscape of Easter Island. Not only because it is a piece of land that is further away from another, but also because of the beautiful statues of Moai that are there. To do a beautiful walk there, I would have to involve the Moai, and the Rapa Nui people who live on the island. — Philippe Petit

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

To fight adversity, to improvise, to solve problems, and to save the coup, I had gathered all my senses into unusual configurations, which made me grow wild and enhanced my perceptions. — Philippe Petit

It is more pitiable once to have been rich than not to be rich now. — Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

I wanted all my life to give my world into other arts - books, plays, movies - but I didn't want to sell out. — Philippe Petit

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

It's a marriage of convenience. Temporarily, so long as our interests coincide, however long it takes to dispose of that mob of petit blancs at Port-au-Prince. Afterward,' he waved his sticky fingers airily, 'everything will return to the way it was before. — Madison Smartt Bell