David Belle (born 29 April 1973 in Fécamp, France) is the founder of parkour and its most famous practitioner. Belle began parkour when he was 15, deeply inspired by his father Raymond Belle and the "methode naturelle" (created by Georges Hébert) who had also been the reason for much of Belle's early physical development.
- "At the physical end, Parkour is getting over all the obstacles in your path as you would in an emergency situation. You want to move in such a way, with any movement, that will help you gain the most ground on someone/something as if escaping from someone/something or chasing toward someone/something. Also, wherever you go, you must be able to get back. If you go from A to B, you need to be able to get back from B to A. You don't need to do the same "move," but just get back."
- "My thing from the beginning is to have it be useful, and be able to help others. It's about being efficient and getting there as fast as you can. If people want to do it more artistically or in a freestyle way, I have absolutely no problem with it — that's the way it's going to evolve. It's not my style, but if it's other people's [style], that's perfect."
- "Parkour belongs to the ones who live it, not the ones who want to live thanks to it"
- "Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move."
- "Bare feet are the best shoes!"
- "If you are in front of a wall that you cannot get past, would you just keep banging your head into the wall?... No, you would find a new wall."
- "Obstacles are found everywhere, and in overcoming them we nourish ourselves."
