Quotes from Dean Potter

People think that in order for nature to be sacred, you have to separate yourself from it.

I would never make a movie just for the sake of making a movie.

There are many people who parachute and many people who climb. I'm the only person who does both.

When there's a death consequence, when you are doing things that if you mess up you die, I like the way it causes my senses to peak. I can see more clearly. You can think much faster. You hear at a different level.

My parents didn't want to believe their son was 200 feet up, free-soloing. They liked to go on long walks and runs, and they would go right by Joe English. Later they'd say, 'Hey, we saw someone climbing up there.' They would describe what they saw, and I'd be wearing the exact same outfit. And I'd say, 'Oh... Nope, wasn't me!'

Lately I think of myself as more bird than human.

The wingsuit is basically the flying squirrel suit.

I just love any place that I can sit in the sun and feel the warmth of the sun's rays, and feel the connection to the planet, really tapping into how small I am and really how insignificant I am in comparison to the universe.

I can calm myself by an intense will, and also by the simple ability to focus in the most dangerous situation on breath and nothing else.

With the highlining I'm not blocking out the fear, I'm feeling the fear and absorbing everything that's around me, trying to calm my heart, not hyperventilate and keep it together.

I grew up in the 1970s. It was a super open-minded time. I was taught through my parents and TV that everything was possible. You'd see cartoons where superheroes would fly. I always wanted to do these things.

More and more people seem to be separating from nature. I'm trying to go in a different direction. I'm getting closer and closer.

Many of my hardest climbs were done with one or both feet barefoot.

I know I'm not a cutting-edge free climber. Free soloing, I'm comfortable to 5.10-plus or 5.11a. But if I was a grade higher I could do some amazing things.

I've never tried to be the leader. All I focus on is climbing.

On the highline my thoughts are simple and clear. Fundamental needs shine through the mental clutter. I focus completely on my breath, my connection with the line, and making it safely to the other side.

If I have a combination of calm and fear, I access mental states way beyond normal consciousness. That's why I choose to do scary things.

When I do stuff where death could be a real consequence, it makes me want to live right.

Well, I'm a pretty wild guy and I live pretty close to nature - I've often lived in caves or on the edge of cliffs or in forests - so it's just second nature for me to tap into the movings of the weather and the world.

I consider myself a rock climber but the definition of rock climbing as has changed.

I also know for a fact of at least two other ascents of the Delicate Arch. But when 'Outside' did their research, the other two climbers wouldn't admit to it, and I admit to it because I don't see anything wrong with a man climbing a rock.

Climbing for me is about being free. It's just to move and be uninhibited and feel and tap into the connection with nature.

I spend more time with Whisper than I do with anybody else. I chose her when she was three or four days old, I've had her since she was nine weeks. She's a mini Australian cattle dog; cattle dogs need to have a job, and her job is just walking after me.

I got Whisper when she was a little puppy and I hated leaving her at home, because I would go on these six-to-eight-hour hikes - I would BASE jump every day, and I'd have to leave her behind.