Viggo Mortensen Quotes

Adapt and overcome.

Viggo Mortensen

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• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Life
  • Live
  • Done

• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • World
  • Attention

• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • Kind
  • Street

• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • World
  • Breakfast

• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Way
  • You
  • Find

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

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • You
  • Arts
  • Awards

• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • World
  • Family

• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Up
  • Important
  • Country

• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Kid
  • Read
  • Others

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

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • Good
  • Think

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

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Movie
  • Painting
  • Color

• You see people on the street yelling and think they're crazy, but maybe they're just happy and expressing what they feel at all times.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • Happy
  • Crazy

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

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • Nature
  • Think

• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Character
  • Story
  • Birth

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

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Long
  • Goal
  • President

• People like to pigeonhole you. It's easier.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • You
  • Easier

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

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • Dogs
  • Cats

• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Done
  • Proud
  • Said

• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • Time
  • Important

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

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Art
  • You
  • Alive

• 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.'

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Book
  • Sometimes
  • Stubborn

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

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Power
  • End
  • Actor

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

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Think
  • You
  • Go

• 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.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • Life
  • Time