Top 160 Viggo Mortensen Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

102. “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

103. “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.’”

— Viggo Mortensen

104. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

105. “I take my work seriously, but it’s not the only thing that exists in the world.”

— Viggo Mortensen

106. “For ‘Hidalgo,’ I just spent as much time around horses as I could, which made sense.”

— Viggo Mortensen

107. “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

108. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

109. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

110. “You can’t really divorce yourself and your life from the world you live in.”

— Viggo Mortensen

111. “I love rehearsing, but a lot of directors don’t, and some actors don’t.”

— Viggo Mortensen

112. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

113. “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

114. “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

115. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

116. “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

117. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

118. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

119. “When I land in a country and they ask for ‘occupation,’ I always just put ‘artist.’ I think that covers all of it.”

— Viggo Mortensen

120. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

121. “I’m optimistic about people and about the planet and about nature. I think it’s resilient, like people are.”

— Viggo Mortensen

122. “When I was a little boy, I rode, but I didn’t own horses.”

— Viggo Mortensen

123. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

124. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

125. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

126. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

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

— Viggo Mortensen

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

— Viggo Mortensen

129. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

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

— Viggo Mortensen

131. “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

132. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

133. “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

134. “It’s always interesting to play a character that obviously has a secret.”

— Viggo Mortensen

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

— Viggo Mortensen

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

— Viggo Mortensen

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

— Viggo Mortensen

138. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

139. “In terms of the movie business, being in a ‘Lord of the Rings’ has given me more interesting options as work.”

— Viggo Mortensen

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

— Viggo Mortensen

141. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

142. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

143. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

144. “Kids accept where they are because they don’t know the past. They know what they have; they know where they are.”

— Viggo Mortensen

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

— Viggo Mortensen

146. “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!’”

— Viggo Mortensen

147. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen

148. “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

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

— Viggo Mortensen

150. “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.”

— Viggo Mortensen