103+ Viggo Mortensen Quotes On War, Road And Playing Aragorn

Viggo Mortensen is an American actor, poet, musician, photographer, and painter. He is best known for his roles in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and Captain Fantastic. He has also appeared in several other films, including Hidalgo, Appaloosa, and The Road. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Viggo Mortensen on love, life, war.

Top 10 Viggo Mortensen Quotes

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. In a movie, you're raw material, just a hue of some color and the director makes the painting.
5. As Martin Luther King said, "Passively to participate in an unjust system is to accept that system and to participate in its evil."
6. 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.
7. You have a moral obligation to finish the job you said you would do.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.

Viggo Mortensen Short Quotes

• As Aragorn said at Helm's Deep, "There is always hope."
• Usually the characters I play are men of few words, who communicate in non-verbal ways.
• To strive for something better - at least there's a chance.
• I pursue the things I do because I'm interested in them.
• I take my work seriously, but it's not the only thing that exists in the world.
• I think if you don't say something it's lying by omission. I personally think it's immoral.
• What art does is it makes you feel alive and makes you feel like you're connected.
• In the end, the actor's main power is the power to say, 'No.'
• There's no sense in doing something, especially if it's a hard job, if you can't have a little fun.
• If you're not optimistic on some level, then you've given up.

Viggo Mortensen Quotes About Life

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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

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

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

Viggo Mortensen Quotes About People

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Mortensen Famous Quotes And Sayings

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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." — Viggo Mortensen

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

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." — Viggo Mortensen

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

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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

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. — Viggo Mortensen

I'm just looking as always for something that's stimulating and I hope to find a good story that's a challenge, whether it's big or small. Or that it finds me. I don't have like a career plan. Maybe I should, but I don't. — Viggo Mortensen

Perhaps the itinerant upbringing my brothers and I had has something to do with my continued interest in perspectives different from my own. — Viggo Mortensen

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

I met Cindy [Sheehan] near Crawford, Texas. I went out to personally thank her for waiting patiently by the road in front of George and Laura Bush's ranch for an answer from her President as to why and for what her son and others had been sacrificed in the unlawful invasion and occupation of Iraq. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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

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

In December of 2002, the late Richard Corliss, a respected movie critic with a long and illustrious career, wrote an embarrassing letter of support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan in the guise of a Time magazine review of Peter Jackson's The Two Towers. — Viggo Mortensen

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." — Viggo Mortensen

I campaigned for [Dennis] Kucinich in 2008. I continue to be in touch with him and I really admire him. I think he's very brave and honest - unusually so for a U.S. politician. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

I trust Hillary Clinton about as far as I could throw Donald Trump. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

One of the most recent things we did [in Perceval Press] is a reissue of a fantastic documentary about Russian prison tattoo culture by Alix Lambert called The Mark of Cain. We've done books from Twilight of Empire, that actually has forewords by Howard Zinn and Dennis Kucinich and others, to books of poetry, photography, painting - all kinds of books. — Viggo Mortensen

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

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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

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

In 2016 we are faced with a particularly bizarre and unappetizing choice as regards the two main political parties' presidential candidates, in my opinion. — Viggo Mortensen

Most actors can't make any kind of living. — Viggo Mortensen

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

I look at my job as looking at the world from points of view that are different from mine - sometimes radically different from mine. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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.' — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

One of the most effective tools that the Cheney-Bush junta has used to marginalize dissenting or even mildly inquisitive American citizens has been the accusation of being unpatriotic. — Viggo Mortensen

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

There are people that grandstand and seem to be publicly politically engaged because they like the attention, more than because they're genuinely concerned about the world. But I don't think that's the majority. — Viggo Mortensen

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

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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

Speaking more than one language and living in a multicultural family and environment did not seem like anything but what it was: the world I lived in. — Viggo Mortensen

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

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

America is an empire in decay. But we don't have to lash out and do damage on the way down. We can reverse some of the damage we've done. It's possible. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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

People like to pigeonhole you. It's easier. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

It's almost a standard tactic, really, to try to minimize any effort that people in the entertainment business or in any public occupation make to express themselves. — Viggo Mortensen

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

Bernie Sanders has inspired millions of people in this country. — Viggo Mortensen

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. — Viggo Mortensen

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

[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. — Viggo Mortensen

Life Lessons by Viggo Mortensen

1. Viggo Mortensen encourages us to be humble and generous, and to remember that life is short and should be lived to the fullest.
2. He also emphasizes the importance of respecting the environment and all living things, and of being open-minded and tolerant of other cultures and beliefs.
3. Through his work, Mortensen reminds us to be mindful of our actions and to strive for excellence in whatever we do.