The merest attempt at estimating, the slightest unconscious recording is shrugged off as an absurd association with some never-to-be-realised dream…. as an exercise in futility….

I manage to whisper my first thought (whisper, so the demons won’t hear):

“I know it’s impossible. But I know I will do it.”

At that instant, the towers become “my towers.”

Once on the street, a new thought: Impossible, yes, so let’s get to work.

— from Man on Wire, a must-read diary of tightrope walker Philippe Petit’s conquest of the World Trade Centre