Viggo Mortensen Quotes:

There's no excuse to be bored. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed, yes. Crazy, yes. But there's no excuse for boredom, ever.

source: - "Finding Viggo" by Alex Kuczynski, Vanity Fair, January 1, 2004.

Topics: Crazy, Failure, Blessing, Yes Or No, Being Bored

Having a mixed background and feeling a little bit like a fish out of water in most places can be a benefit.

Topics: Water, Feelings, Littles

I have never been in a natural place and felt that it was a waste of time. I never have. And it's a relief. If I'm walking around a desert or whatever, every second is worthwhile.

Topics: Hair, Desert, Waste

I was born in New York but as a baby moved to Venezuela and Argentina. I've also lived in Denmark, where my father's from. I've traveled a lot, and having that sort of background probably increased the chance that I was going to remain curious as an adult about people who are different.

Topics: Baby, New York, Father, Venezuela

I have friends who I get along with who I know get very uncomfortable being alone, unless they're with people, talking all the time. Whether it's on the phone, or in person, they're never by themselves. Whereas I could be alone for months.

Topics: Being Alone, Phones, Talking

It doesn't matter how bad things are, something good could happen always. And it doesn't matter how many excuses you have for behaving in an unkind manner towards others. There's never any excuse for not being kind and it's always better to be kind even if it seems pointless and that in fact is the highest wisdom - being kind. It sounds like a very noble, ethereal, simplistic idea but it's true.

Topics: Ideas, Matter, Be Kind, Excuse You, Ethereal

To be an artist, you don't have to compose music or paint or be in the movies or write books. It's just a way of living. It has to do with paying attention, remembering, filtering what you see and answering back, participating in life.

Topics: Book, Writing, Artist

I think you have to be flexible above all as an actor; different characters have different demands, actors that you work with are different in their approach, or how you get along or don't get along with them.

Topics: Character, Thinking, Demand, Different Characters

Life is short and the older you get, the more you feel it. Indeed, the shorter it is. People lose their capacity to walk, run, travel, think, and experience life. I realise how important it is to use the time I have.

Topics: Running, Life Is Short, Thinking, Watching Television, Respect People

The only thing that I always do - is once I've taken on a job, even just to do one scene in a movie, I ask myself, "What's happened the moment the kid was born, until page one of the script?" To answer that simple question, I have an infinite amount of work to do. And I enjoy that part as much as I enjoy any part of making movies.

Topics: Jobs, Taken, Kids

Photography, painting or poetry - those are just extensions of me, how I perceive things; they are my way of communicating.

Topics: Photography, Way, Painting

I played Lucifer once, which is sort of a difficult character to research. I thought to myself, "We all have the potential to be selfish, to be cruel - at least to think evil thoughts, even if we don't ever act out on them. Even if we don't ever think we behave badly, we probably do more than we realize."

source: - "Viggo Mortensen, Man of the World". Interview with Emma Brown, www.interviewmagazine.com. May 5, 2015.

Topics: Selfish, Character, Thinking, Evil Thoughts

I think every family is dysfunctional, and some manage to control it better than others.

Topics: Thinking, Manage

I think it's my job to like any character I play - to understand and appreciate a character, to look at the world as much as possible from their point of view. I don't look at it just technically: learn the lines, figure out what gestures I want to bring and play, and that's it. I like to learn as much as I can about the person, and see what happens.

Topics: Jobs, Character, Thinking

I've never been conscious of having any real career plan, and I do not have a wish-list of actors, directors, screenwriters, or cameramen I'm hoping to work with. Life, I feel, has a way of leading us to the right situations and people, or at least to interesting ones.

Topics: Real, Careers, Interesting, Cameraman

Every once in a while, someone would call me a foreigner or a Yankee, or whatever. In the United States, someone might say something, like how kids do, to point out that you're different. That would come as a surprise to me. As you get old, you either get defensive about it or you accept it and you reach out, because you realize the world's full of people like that.

Topics: Kids, Yankees, People, Old You

If there's one thing I've learned from traveling, it's that it is definitely more important how you are than where you are. You can say, 'Oh, I hate X city, I hate that country, or I prefer this city,' but it's a little bit up to you to find some kind of happiness.

Topics: Country, Hate, Cities

Because of the internet, satellite TV, and the digital world, you can stay in touch, you can learn about other people from a young age.

Topics: People, Age, World, Digital World

Each time I make a movie, it's like a paid scholarship to a different university course.

Topics: Different, Scholarship, University

When I was 11, I moved to the United States with my two brothers and my mom. We moved to northern New York, up near the Canadian border, from Argentina, and there was nobody there that spoke Spanish, and because there was no internet at the time, not even cable TV yet, I lost the connection with my childhood friends and the culture I had been brought up with for my first decade completely.

Topics: Mom, Brother, New York, Childhood Friend, Cable Tv

Be kind. It's worthwhile to make an effort to learn about other people and figure out what you might have in common with them.

Topics: People, Effort, Might, Being Open Minded

People are becoming more intimately acquainted with people who are different than them - it's not so unusual anymore.

Topics: People, Becoming, Different

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a horse master. He told me to go slow to go fast. I think that applies to everything in life. We live as though there aren't enough hours in the day but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress.

Topics: Horse, Stress, Thinking, Less Stress, Hours In The Day

I'm not afraid of death, but I resent it. I think it's unfair and irritating.

Topics: Thinking, Unfair, Irritating, Afraid Of Death, Not Afraid Of Death

You don't have to make something that people call art. Living is an artistic activity, there is an art to getting through the day.

Topics: Art, People, Artistic

Joseph Campbell said the privilege of a lifetime is being yourself. That's his feeling. And I guess it's mine too.

Topics: Being Yourself, Feelings, Privilege

As you get older, you get stuck in your ways; just as you become stiffer physically, you also become stiffer mentally and more narrow-minded unless you make a conscious effort to keep yourself flexible.

Topics: Effort, Way, Conscious

We all have secrets, some secrets bigger than others, is a normal human thing.

Topics: Secret, Normal, Bigger

If you tell the story emotionally in a truthful way, then you start naturally looking at the landscape and thinking "Wow, we have to watch out."

Topics: Thinking, Stories, Landscape

I've been naked physically in movies - but it's a whole other thing to be naked emotionally in a way that's not just a distraction or a character.

Topics: Character, Way, Naked

Once you learn the idea of what a good guy is, you want your dad to be a good guy, and when your dad lets you down and doesn't act like a good guy, it's disappointing and can make you angry as you see it happen, which is beautiful and very believable.

Topics: Beautiful, Dad, Ideas, Believable

Kids are shy and they often don't want to make eye contact or say "thank you."

Topics: Kids, Eye, Want, Eye Contact

I think the older you get the harder it is to [lose] probably. Your metabolism slows down, whatever, but I'm a pretty active person.

Topics: Thinking, Slow Down, Metabolism

We often live in the past a lot more than we probably realize.

Topics: Past, Realizing

I've been lucky to learn by playing all kinds of roles and watching all kinds of really good cinematographers, actors, and directors for many years before people were even aware of me in terms of audience.

Topics: Years, People, Lucky

I think maybe because I do other things and they mean as much to me as movie acting, it takes the onus off me. It's not the end of the world if I can't get a film job, or if a movie doesn't turn out well - even though I don't like it when that happens.

Topics: Jobs, Mean, Thinking

If in my twenties I'd gotten one of the two-dozen roles that I did screen tests for and almost got, I think I would have become bored with the awards circuit, the whole hype machine.

Topics: Thinking, Two, Hype

I think that every person has many, many people inside of them. We change our personality depending on who we are talking to or what situation we are in.

Topics: Thinking, Talking, People

I was raised in Argentina until I was 11 and now I go back there a lot, at least twice a year. It's a country where I feel very comfortable and it represents an important period in my life.

Topics: Country, Years, Important

I was raised speaking English and Spanish. And I also speak Danish. And I can get by in French and Italian. I've acted in Spanish and English, but when something has to do with emotions, sometimes I feel I can get to the heart of the matter better in Spanish.

Topics: Heart, Italian, Matter, Spanish And English

I would literally climb out of the cradle while my parents slept, go and crawl off. I did this a couple of times apparently. I'd cross the road and into someone's house, wake them up banging pots and pans in the kitchen.

Topics: Couple, House, Parent, Pots And Pans

I'm very comfortable in Argentina. I was raised there as a baby and stayed there until I was 11 years old, so the first decade of my life or my formative years were spent in Argentina. I stayed in tune with the food, music and language.

Topics: Baby, Years, Firsts, Formative Years

Ignorance breeds antipathy. Until I got to know how computers worked, I didn't want anything to do with them. I said, 'Well, why do I need them? I write letters.' Which I still do.

Topics: Ignorance, Writing, Letters, Antipathy

I'm certainly curious about people. As a kid, I moved around a lot. I was raised in a lot of different places, and thanks to working in the movies, I've gotten to keep traveling. I've always been interested in other cultures and languages.

Topics: Kids, Other Cultures, People, Culture And Language

I've never played a Dane in a movie. I've had offers to be in Danish movies, including for some good directors, but I either had a job at the time or, when I was available, the movie just didn't happen. Hopefully someday I'll do one.

Topics: Jobs, Directors, Someday, Danish, Good Directors

I suppose a good director is like a teacher. I think that someone like David Cronenberg was very much like a teacher, because there's an openness, but a certain set of rules of behavior, and a certain conduct expected. But there's an atmosphere that's relaxed and conducive to exploration, and that is created by someone like Cronenberg.

Topics: Teacher, Thinking, Atmosphere, Good Directors

I really enjoyed working with New Zealanders as crew members, as teammates. They're great, and it's a beautiful country. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and I've traveled quite a bit.

Topics: Beautiful, Country, Teammate, Beautiful Country

At the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century in Austria, there was a lot of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism in Austria was much more pervasive than in Germany. And Austrians took to Nazi ideas and anti-Semitism much more readily than Germans did, really.

Topics: Ideas, Austria, Half

Being an actor, imitating to the point of inhabiting the lives of others, may simply be a way of continuing to do what I learned to do as a boy - to travel, mentally and physically.

Topics: Boys, May, Way

Every year I hear people complain that the quality of screenplays and movies is declining. In my opinion, the vast majority of scripts written - as well as most movies that are released - are not very original, well-written, or interesting. It has always been that way, and I think it always will be.

Topics: Thinking, Years, Interesting

Further devastation of the air, land and sea is obviously a very real possibility, unless the attitudes of politicians and all who irresponsibly exploit our natural resources change significantly in the very near future and all collaborate and sacrifice for the good of the planet.

Topics: Attitude, Real, Sacrifice, Land And Sea

I don't have a BlackBerry or whatever you call it. And there is something to be said for being isolated and out of phone range, because you can fall into a habit to such a degree that you don't even realise that you've lost something: silence.

Topics: Fall, Phones, Silence

Freud was the son of a Jewish merchant who had to move his whole family to Vienna because he couldn't get work. He, as a boy, had to watch his father be mocked and abused on the street for being Jewish... You develop a thick skin and you develop a certain kind of wit to defend yourself.

Topics: Father, Moving, Son, Thick Skin

I grew up with horses when I was a kid in Argentina. I like them. I respect them. I'm careful around them. You never know what they're going to do. They're endlessly interesting. I've had some good acting partners that were horses over the years.

Topics: Horse, Kids, Years, Good Acting

I hate divers, like Cristiano Ronaldo, who might be the greatest athlete in the sport, but he's a big baby. If things are going well he's great, but when things are going badly it's the ref's fault, it's his teammates' fault.

Topics: Sports, Baby, Hate, Refs, Cristiano Ronaldo

I have a publishing company of books by me and books of others. It drew people to poetry readings and photo exhibitions and painting exhibitions that I've been doing for years before that.

Topics: Book, Reading, Years, Poetry Reading

I know I said I wanted to live forever and I would never be bored, but the reality is, it's probably kind of sad to live forever if you're the only one sticking around.

Topics: Reality, Bored, Forever

I know people who prepare their roles in such a way that they technically look ahead and memorize their gestures, and then they stick to it. Those that are technically proficient enough can make it seem natural, but they do that and don't really take in what other people are doing.

Topics: People, Looks, Gestures

I like the detail work of telling a story in small pieces, as is done in movie-making, and also the long leap of faith needed to see a theatre performance through each night. Both require focus and self-discipline.

Topics: Night, Self, Long, Movie Making

I realise how important it is to use the time I have. I respect people who want to do that by watching television. I happen to want to read books. But I know I can't read all the books or watch all the movies in one lifetime.

Topics: Book, People, Important

Anyone can identify with those moments in life where circumstances or people inform us that we've strayed from the path of our better nature and intentions. We know what that's like, and we resist it - so as not to feel like we're bad people.

Topics: People, Path, Moments

In a lot of places in the United States and certainly even more places around the world, the image of the cowboy has become, for some people, a negative one. The word 'cowboy' implies a strong, stubborn individual whose individualism depends on pulling down other people's individualism.

Topics: Strong, Cowboy, People

In a way, editing is not unlike the movies. The best books, just like the best movies, are a collaboration. They're only as good as the compromise made between the artists involved.

Topics: Book, Artist, Editing

With any character I have played, there's infinite possibilities for how they might behave, depending on who they are talking to or how they react to things.

Topics: Character, Talking, Might

Yes, I would agree that America, just like Spain was in the 17th Century, is the main empire of the world and they are the ones who, on the surface, are the most pushy: pushing their language, pushing their culture - or what there is of it - pushing by force their system on others.

Topics: America, Spain, Culture, 17th Century, Pushy

You know, Freud accepted his lot very stoically and very well and with a sense of humor. He aged and died gracefully, and there's a lot to be said for that.

Topics: Sense Of Humor, Accepted, Said

Can you join, ask sincerely for affection without sweaty hand of expectation, understanding and accepting if it never is given?

Topics: Hands, Expectations, Understanding

If you daren't enter the forest, or cannot find it, then perhaps you might find one tree, or a place where a tree could be, and just stop for a quiet moment to see what happens.

Topics: Tree, Forests, Might, Quiet Moments

I think that people who get to a certain position, and then try to ferociously defend it or build on it, it's kind of a dead-end street. You see people becoming miserable that way.

Topics: Thinking, People, Trying

We all experience many freakish and unexpected events - you have to be open to suffering a little. The philosopher Schopenhauer talked about how out of the randomness, there is an apparent intention in the fate of an individual that can be glimpsed later on. When you are an old guy, you can look back, and maybe this rambling life has some through-line. Others can see it better sometimes. But when you glimpse it yourself, you see it more clearly than anyone.

Topics: Fate, Guy, Suffering, Rambling, Randomness

You have a moral obligation to finish the job you said you would do.

Topics: Jobs, Moral, Said, Moral Obligation

To find a good story, you're generally going to find it in independent or lower budget movies... I wouldn't mind doing a big budget movie if it had a great story.

Topics: Independent, Mind, Stories

You can't really divorce yourself and your life from the world you live in.

Topics: Divorce, World

I mean, any movie or story that makes you accept and be grateful for something about your life is doing something right.

Topics: Grateful, Mean, Stories

A lot of people can forget about you in Los Angeles.

Topics: People, Forget, Los Angeles

When we shot 'The Lord of the Rings,' we had special permission to film in wild areas of New Zealand that could be accessed only by helicopter. They would drop us off and we would work all day, and they'd pick us up and take us out again.

Topics: Special, Film, Lord

When I make a movie, I don't break it down and analyze it. I could but it would get in the way of doing a job - on instinct based on all the research we did going in. you want to trust yourself and your director and your acting partners in the circumstances you're shooting. I don't like to have any kind of overview.

Topics: Jobs, Acting, Research, Overview

In principle, I think the idea of rewarding a good effort is interesting, but movies are generally different from each other as are performances and the conditions on how the performances are given and how they're edited and so forth.

Topics: Thinking, Ideas, Interesting

It's amazing to me that Glenn Beck can be on the cover of 'Time,' and there can be a whole article about him basically saying, 'Well, you know, he's controversial.' It's like, 'No, he's a dangerous idiot who needs the help of a good psychiatrist!'

Topics: Needs, Helping, Idiot

Like most people - unless they're very practised at it or have no warm blood at all in their veins - I feel a little apprehensive about the red carpet. It's always a bit bewildering when people are taking pictures and asking questions before the ceremony.

Topics: Blood, Asking Questions, People, Red Carpet

Looking at acting, in the movies or the theater, and the way I like to look at it, it's just an extension of childhood play... Kids play and imagine in a very intense fashion and they don't need any director telling them, 'You really have to believe in it.' They believe in it completely.

Topics: Fashion, Believe, Kids

More often than not, the experience of shooting the movie has been disappointing and the end product has been a mere shadow of what I hoped it would be. But immersing myself in the story - that's what I like best of all.

Topics: Shadow, Would Be, Stories

One of the main ways that leadership stays in power is by, in various ways, convincing people that they should just let those who are in government govern: 'Trust us. Trust me. Just let us take care of things. Stay out of it.' Your opinions don't really matter. You are isolated. You are insignificant.

Topics: Government, People, Care

People will like to say that 'Eastern Promises' is brutal, but the only reason they say that is because the scenes stick with them. They are realistic. They are in-your-face and you see the consequences. It's not a bunch of quick editing cuts.

Topics: Cutting, Editing, People

Some actors learn the habit of promoting themselves as a brand - by dressing in a certain way, by going out with a certain person - it gives them what they obviously want, which is to keep a level of fame. I'm not putting it down.

Topics: Giving, Actors, Levels

Sometimes a scene works and acting is the easiest thing in the world and you don't have to do much of anything - just enjoy yourself and listen to the other actor. When it doesn't work, then every actor has different ways of dealing with the impasse. Sometimes you use memories from the past. Whatever. It depends from job to job.

Topics: Jobs, Memories, Past, Enjoy Yourself, Impasse

Toronto Film Festival is one of those festivals where there are 400 movies, and unless you have a distributor who is super confident and puts a lot of money into it, sometimes movies can go unwatched or unnoticed.

Topics: Festivals, Toronto, Film, Distributors, Film Festivals

Travel is one of the best anti-war weapons that there are. I've been to Iran, and if you're there you see little kids, cops, old people, cemeteries. Once you see that, you can't say, 'Oh, Iran, let's bomb them.'

Topics: War, Kids, Iran

Walking down the street in any town or city in the world and having people look at you and start talking to you, convinced that they know you as well or better than they do members of their own family, that's just an odd phenomenon. But I mean, I wouldn't say it was a bad thing. It's an interesting thing.

Topics: Mean, Talking, Cities

When I heard Puerto Ricans in New York City, it sounded very strange. And the first time I heard someone from Spain, I thought they had a speech impediment!

Topics: New York, Cities, Speech, Speech Impediment

You should always do the things in life that are both interesting and make you afraid.

Topics: Interesting, Should

It's hard not to get depressed when you pay attention to the world and how strangely and corrupt the people in it sometimes behave.

Topics: People, Attention, World

You know, real life doesn't just suddenly resolve itself. You have to keep working at it.

source: - "Sympathy for the devil". Interview with Chrissy Iley, www.theguardian.com. April 18, 2009.

Topics: Real, Real Life, Resolve

When you're under stress as a human being, you behave oddly and your relationships with people become strained.

Topics: Stress, People, Behave, Under Stress

If you're not optimistic on some level, then you've given up.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Optimistic, Levels, Given

As Martin Luther King said, "Passively to participate in an unjust system is to accept that system and to participate in its evil."

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Kings, Evil, Unjust

People like to pigeonhole you. It's easier.

Topics: People, Easier

My job as an artist, as I see it, is to understand and in some cases to take on various ways of thinking about people and the world that are different from my own, sometimes radically different.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Jobs, Thinking, Artist

It's easy to get depressed and think, "Well, what's the point?" But it's the same as, "Well, we're all going to die, so what's the point in brushing my teeth or even saying hello to anyone or obeying traffic lights." You can do that, but that's certainly not going to take you anywhere.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Thinking, Light, Saying Hello, Traffic Light, Brushing

I'm not that involved in personal grooming. But I try not to be offensive to people.

Topics: People, Trying, Offensive, Grooming, Personal Grooming

I prefer the smaller acting than big histrionics. It's about reacting and looks, which is often underestimated.

Topics: Acting, Looks, Bigs

Even the implication that The Lord of the Rings is a mythic story about Western, white supremacy - regardless of the political leanings of anyone who tries to make that case - is a load of self-justifying, destructive horseshit.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: White, Self, Political, White Supremacy

When there is conflict, it's good to step away, even for five minutes, because you could say terrible things that you can't take back, so it's best to walk away.

source: - "Sympathy for the devil" by Chrissy Iley, www.theguardian.com. April 18, 2009.

Topics: Steps, Conflict, Minutes

I try to research or make up for myself what happened in any character's life. From when he was born until the first page of the script. I fill in the blanks.

Topics: Character, Trying, Research

I don't like people who get into fights about football - or anything else.

source: - "Sympathy for the devil". Interview with Chrissy Iley, www.theguardian.com. April 18, 2009.

Topics: Football, Fighting, People

You do need to get lucky, no matter how talented you are.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen Talks ‘A Dangerous Method,’ David Cronenberg". Interview with Nicki Gostin, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 12, 2012.

Topics: Lucky, Needs, Matter

When I have a day off, I won't spend it at a Hollywood party. I'd rather be at home with paints and a blank canvas.

Topics: Party, Home, Hollywood, Blank Canvas

The money I earn from films means I can help the people I want to help - you can do a lot of good if you want to.

Topics: Mean, People, Want

'The Road' is about that fear that all parents can have. What's going to happen to your child if you're not around? It takes those concerns to an extreme. In the film, without me the boy has no food, no shelter, no resources at all.

Topics: Children, Boys, Parent

If you don't find some way to discuss what's going on inside you, it can come out in other ways that are self-destructive.

Topics: Self, Way, Ifs

When people say that entertainers should "know your place," they might as well say the same thing about plumbers and teachers and cab drivers. We all should be able to express our views.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen Loves Politics". Interview with Nina Siegal, www.alternet.org. October 17, 2005.

Topics: Teacher, Views, People, Cab Drivers

There might be people out there who wouldn't hire me because they thought I should keep my mouth shut, but I'm not aware of that. Even if I saw evidence of that, it wouldn't really concern me.

Topics: People, Mouths, Might

Some people who like dogs don't like cats, but I'm not like that.

source: - "Sympathy for the devil". Interview with Chrissy Iley, www.theguardian.com. April 18, 2009.

Topics: Dog, Cat, People

Those who have the power and should be the most responsible are often the least responsible.

Topics: Responsible, Should

As Aragorn said at Helm's Deep, "There is always hope."

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Said, Helm

I want to see what the Green Party looks like. I think if people don't start voting what they feel, if that's something other than the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, then nothing's going to change. You need more political parties that actually have a chance.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Party, Thinking, People, Green Party

Kids accept where they are because they don't know the past. They know what they have; they know where they are.

Topics: Kids, Past, Accepting

As regards Hillary C;inton's foreign policy actions and the powerful vested interests she seems gleefully beholden to, including all the biggest players in the military-industrial complex, I feel that she would be no better an actor on the world stage than Trump and whatever coalition of managers he might cobble together.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Powerful, Military, Player, Military Industrial Complex

It's true that I have a wide range of interests. I like to write and paint and make music and go walking on my own and garden. In fact, gardening is probably what I enjoy doing more than anything else.

Topics: Writing, Garden, Facts

I like stories that leave you wanting more, leave you wondering, but don't tell you everything.

source: - "Interview: Viggo Mortensen on “Good”". Interview with Aaron Hillis, www.ifc.com. December 31, 2008.

Topics: Wanting More, Stories, Wonder

What art does is it makes you feel alive and makes you feel like you're connected.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen Speaks: Part 3 of 3". Interview with Ethan Gilsdorf, www.wired.com. March 12, 2012.

Topics: Art, Alive, Doe

I pursue the things I do because I'm interested in them.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen Loves Politics". Interview with Nina Siegal, www.alternet.org. October 17, 2005.

Topics: Pursue

Here's where we are, this is what's happening. So do something, or get out of the kitchen.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Kitchen, Happenings

It's just like with people. You're going to get along better working with them - human or equine - if you ask politely rather than demand that they do things.

Topics: People, Demand, Equine

If you're trying to please everyone, then you're not going to make anything that is honestly yours, I don't think, in the long run.

Topics: Running, Thinking, Long, Trying To Please Everyone

I have a multicultural background, so I tend to have an open mind about things, and I find other cultures interesting.

source: - "LatinoBuzz: Viggo Mortensen On Playing Twins, His Love of Argentina, and Soccer". Interview with Vanessa Erazo, www.indiewire.com. March 21, 2013.

Topics: Other Cultures, Interesting, Mind

I like naturally occurring film grain, and what happens to film when it's under- and over-exposed.

Topics: Film, Grain, Exposed

As far as money goes, there's a saying in Denmark: 'Your last suit doesn't have any pockets.' You can't take it with you. You can make all the money you want, but who cares?

source: - "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

Topics: Pockets, Who Cares, Want

I like a twisted sense of humour. On 'A History of Violence,' David Cronenberg and I would be doing the grimmest scenes and laugh a lot.

Topics: Laughing, Violence, Would Be

With few exceptions, one ought always do what one is afraid of.

source: - "Q&A: Viggo Mortensen" by Rosanna Greenstreet, www.theguardian.com. January 2, 2010.

Topics: Exception, Ought

I'm optimistic about people and about the planet and about nature. I think it's resilient, like people are.

Topics: Optimistic, Thinking, People

I have a roof over my head. I had a breakfast, and a lot of people in the world can't say that. I'm not going to complain about being interviewed.

Topics: People, World, Breakfast, Breakfast Being Important

Nobody really knows anybody completely, even if they've been married to 'em for 53 years, you know?

Topics: Years, Ems, Married

Most actors can't make any kind of living.

source: - "Eats Roadkill, Speaks Danish" by Amy Wallace, www.esquire.com. February 28, 2006.

Topics: Actors, Kind

People talk about method actors, meaning someone that's prepared very, very well, or whatever they mean when they talk about it. But the right method is whatever works for you. And what works for me on any given day is going to be different.

source: - Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. March 10, 2004.

Topics: Mean, People, Different, Whatever Works

If I can get a day to myself, I won't answer the phone, I'll read or go for a walk. Simple, basic things. People think there's always time to do that but there isn't. Life is short.

Topics: Life Is Short, Simple, Thinking, Basic Things

Usually the characters I play are men of few words, who communicate in non-verbal ways.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen Interview: Viggo Mortensen Puts Sigmund Freud On The Couch" by Radheyan Simonpillai, www.askmen.com.

Topics: Character, Men, Play

It is important to keep protesting, to keep forcing a conversation in the public arena. In any case, when you know what the right thing to do is, or that something must be said, it can be immoral and dangerous not to act.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Important, Arena, Said

I don't think special attention should be given to an actor or a singer or a baseball player or a soccer player more than anyone else, but they do have an opinion like anyone else.

Topics: Soccer, Baseball, Player

I think we're on the wrong path in this country and have been for a while. People are in their camps divided by region, economic situation, race, religion, ideology. And there's a lot of just staying in your camp using technology to bolster your case without actually debating with other people, without discussing.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Country, Technology, Thinking, Wrong Path

Perceval Press a publishing house I founded in 2002 and it's still going strong. Strong for us means not so many books per year, but each one we very carefully design and print.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Strong, Book, Mean, Going Strong, Publishing House

It's always interesting to play a character that obviously has a secret.

Topics: Character, Play, Interesting

Captain Fantastic touches on that [division]. You meet this family that lives off the grid in the woods and you go, "Oh, it's some kind of liberal utopian fantasy. The enemy is gonna be all these conservative types that they'll probably run into, and that's going to be the story."

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Running, Enemy, Woods

I have to say that I think Bernie Sanders is the first politician since Dennis Kucinich that I've been truly inspired by. Where you actually are truly speaking truth to power, in a legitimate way and in an unpretentious and very straightforward way.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Thinking, Way, Firsts

[Captain Fantastic] it's a great story. It's one of the better scripts I've read, ever, as far as being great from beginning to end. It handles a variety of characters. You have six children who all stand on their own, they're all individuals. And it touches on a very real issue, which is the lack of cohesion and communication in America right now.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Children, Real, Communication

As [John] Tolkien himself said, the story [Lord of the Ring ] is not allegorical. He said so when people tried to make analogies to World War II and the fight against Hitler and his fascist coalition.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: War, Fighting, People

The Holocaust movie is almost a genre in itself these days.

source: - "The happy trails of Viggo Mortensen". Interview with Xan Brooks, www.theguardian.com. April 17, 2009.

Topics: Holocaust, These Days, Genre

Like most people I can be lazy, so it's nice to have a goal or deadline or reason to work out. I feel better when I get to exercise, or when I'm outdoors. I like to hike, swim and run, and I love to play soccer.

Topics: Soccer, Running, Nice

This basic thing I always do: 'What happened between the character's birth, and page one of the script?' Anything that's not in the story, I'll fill in the blanks.

source: - "My mother is very happy about it". Interview with Harriet Lane, www.theguardian.com. February 22, 2008.

Topics: Character, Stories, Pages

I now realize that I was very fortunate to have grown up in many different places, surrounded by all kinds of people, all kinds of points of view.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Views, People, Different, Different Place

I don't speak up about something unless I feel strongly about it and until I've researched a subject extensively and have an informed decision about it.

Topics: Decision, Speak, Feels

I take my work seriously, but it's not the only thing that exists in the world.

Topics: World

As a kid I read Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and a few others. As an adult have admired Leonardo da Vinci's drawings and notebooks.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen Speaks". Interview with Ethan Gilsdorf, www.wired.com. March 10, 2012.

Topics: Notebook, Kids, Drawing, Leonardo

That is to say, Hillary Clinton is not, in my mind, a satisfying or calming alternative to Donald Trump.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Mind, Alternatives, Calming

I have a work ethic. If I say I'm going to do something, I do it.

Topics: Work Ethic, Ethics, Ifs

In other words, I’m against cheating, greed, cruelty, racism, imperialism, religious fundamentalism, treason, and the seemingly limitless capacity for hypocrisy shown by Bush and his administration.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen blasts President Bush" by Jeannette Walls, www.today.com. December 14, 2005.

Topics: Cheating, Religious, Hypocrisy, Religious Fundamentalism

Jung viewed Freud as a mentor, but he never wanted to be anybody's disciple.

Topics: Mentor, Jung, Wanted

The Road was a movie that has a good reputation, even though it wasn't released very well, but that's a movie I'm very proud of.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen interview: 'If I think a film's beyond me - that's a good sign'". Interview with Imogen Tilden, www.theguardian.com. May 28, 2013.

Topics: Proud, Reputation, Wells

It doesn't take that many years for a kid to realise that they're going to die. It's always there in the back of their mind the rest of their lives.

Topics: Kids, Years, Mind

You know, 'Viggo' is a pretty dorky name in Denmark. It's like 'Oswald' or something. It's a very old Scandinavian name, at least 1,000 years old.

Topics: Years, Names, Denmark, Dorky, Scandinavians

I'm sort of contrary and stubborn sometimes. When everybody says, 'You have to read this book! You have to read this book!' I'm like 'Oh, I'll get around to it.'

Topics: Book, Stubborn, Sometimes

My goal is just to make movies, whether they're big or small, that I'd like to see 10 years from now.

Topics: Years, Goal, Bigs

Any nominations a movie gets helps to raise the level of curiosity in the public, so in that sense awards and nominations are important.

Topics: Awards, Curiosity, Important

The efforts of Black Lives Matter to bring attention to the all-too-frequent instances of unjustified violence being used by policemen may not be paying off as quickly as some might hope.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Effort, Black, May, Black Lives, Black Lives Matter

The Black Lives Matter movement, the various Occupy movements in Spain and the rest of Europe, in this country, and elsewhere serve as an example of what can be done, and how strong the voices for positive change and truly democratic progress can be.

source: - Source: www.progressive.org

Topics: Country, Strong, Europe, Occupy Movement, Black Lives

I'd like to, when it's all said and done, say that I have at least a few stories that I feel proud of.

source: - "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

Topics: Done, Proud, Stories

To find a good story, you’re generally going to find it in independent or lower budget movies... I wouldn’t mind doing a big budget movie if it had a great story.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen Says He’ll Work With David Cronenberg Again, Possibly On ‘Eastern Promises 2’". Interview with Oliver Lyttelton, www.indiewire.com. September 14, 2011.

Topics: Independent, Mind, Stories

It's very rare you get a great script just handed to you, or sent to you, by someone you don't know.

Topics: Scripts, Knows

Pinochet and Barack Obama both have the same primary goal, and that's to be president and stay president as long as allowed.

Topics: Long, Goal, President, Pinochet, Primaries

Saying you are a patriot does not make you one; wearing a flag pin does not in itself mean anything at all.

source: - “Eats Roadkill, Speaks Danish” by Amy Wallace, www.esquire.com. February 28, 2006.

Topics: Mean, Doe, Flags, Patriot Day

The best thing an actor can be is flexible, because all directors are different and all actors are different.

Topics: Directors, Different, Actors

You can't really go back to where you came from. I don't think any of us can.

Topics: Thinking

The first decade of your life is really important; it's formative.

source: - "LatinoBuzz: Viggo Mortensen On Playing Twins, His Love of Argentina, and Soccer". Interview with Vanessa Erazo, www.indiewire.com. March 21, 2013.

Topics: Important, Firsts, Life Is

When I was a little boy, I rode, but I didn't own horses.

source: - Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. March 10, 2004.

Topics: Horse, Boys, Littles

Sometimes you look at a movie and you can see that the actor or actress said, 'I'm taking this onboard because I'm making a ton of money, and not because it's going to be something special.'

Topics: Special, Looks, Actors

Most movies are lucky to have one moment, one shot that you look at and you always remember that moment and that scene.

Topics: Lucky, Looks, Remember

In terms of the movie business, being in a 'Lord of the Rings' has given me more interesting options as work.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen Speaks: Part 1 of 3". Interview with Ethan Gilsdorf, www.wired.com. March 10, 2012.

Topics: Interesting, Lord, Given

In a movie, you're raw material, just a hue of some color and the director makes the painting.

Topics: Color, Directors, Raw Materials

Awards for arts, where you make comparisons, don't make much sense.

Topics: Art, Awards, Comparison

For 'Hidalgo,' I just spent as much time around horses as I could, which made sense.

source: - Interview with TashaR, www.avclub.com. March 10, 2004.

Topics: Horse, Made

I don't like the 'must', the 'always', and the 'never' words. I don't like 'no' either.

I don't think you get to be pope without making some enemies, like you do when you're president.

Topics: Thinking, Enemy, President

I have no idea what 'method actor' means.

Topics: Mean, Ideas, Actors

I like movies that leave you with something to think about, to discuss, to debate, you know?

Topics: Thinking, Debate, Knows

I love rehearsing, but a lot of directors don't, and some actors don't.

source: - Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. March 10, 2004.

Topics: Actors, Directors, Rehearsing

I think, on a surface level, people are surprised to see me playing such a passive role in 'Good.'

Topics: Thinking, People, Levels

I'm an optimist; I always hope that each new script is going to be a great story.

Topics: Scripts, Stories, Optimist

I'm not a great fan of monarchy in general, but I have to say the Danish monarchy is closer to the people; it's not as stuffy as the English one.

Topics: People, Fans, Danish, Great Fans

In the end, the actor's main power is the power to say, 'No.'

Topics: Actors, Ends

In a lot of ways, I envy someone like Omar Sharif who lived in a hotel for decades.

Topics: Envy, Way, Omar

To be honest, I don't really care about any pope. It's not something I think about much, to be quite honest with you.

Topics: Thinking, Care, Honest

I try to avoid conflict. I don't want people to be unhappy.

source: - "Sympathy for the devil" by Chrissy Iley, www.theguardian.com. April 18, 2009.

Topics: People, Trying, Unhappy

On a practical level, poetry isn't something anybody has really made a great living at. I might sell some books and, once in a while, someone might pay to hear me read.

Topics: Book, Levels, Might

Adult characters are all the things they've encountered over time. But kids haven't accumulated all the life experience, all the regrets. They tend to be more in the moment, more willing to play, to be joyful.

Topics: Regret, Character, Kids

There's no sense in doing something, especially if it's a hard job, if you can't have a little fun.

source: - Monsters and Critics, www.imdb.com. December 7, 2009.

Topics: Jobs, Fun, Littles

A lot of times, movies that are in the top 10 lists or maybe even win Baftas or Oscars, you then watch them a year later and you go, 'Maybe it wasn't so great.'

Topics: Winning, Years, Top 10

I've never had a problem with people paying attention to what you're doing and say they find that they liked it.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen Speaks: Part 1 of 3". Interview with Ethan Gilsdorf, www.wired.com. March 12, 2012.

Topics: People, Attention, Problem

I don't think Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell fear competition from me in their arena.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen Fights Nude In 'Eastern Promises' — But Could He Take Borat?". Interview with Josh Horowitz, www.mtv.com. September 12, 2007.

Topics: Thinking, Competition, Arena

When I land in a country and they ask for 'occupation,' I always just put 'artist.' I think that covers all of it.

source: - "Viggo Mortensen, King of The Road". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. November 23, 2009.

Topics: Country, Artist, Thinking

A little recognition is not a bad thing because it means people appreciate your work. The only problem is when you can't walk down the street or have a meal without people looking at you. I want to be the one looking at people.

Topics: Mean, People, Appreciate