Viggo Mortensen Art Quotations

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.