Viggo Mortensen Quotes

I never set out to write literature; I set out to tell stories. And some of my work may be very raunchy and very bloodthirsty - but life, for me, is a violent thing.

I think intensity is one thing, and gore is another.

The more real the murder is, the less interested I am in seeing it. It's hard enough to watch the news.

I love those sorts of stories where you actually see the consequences of what violence does physically to people as well as psychologically.

I've always seen in Westerns it described or it's shown very vaguely, but I wanted this - I want us to show what they're doing to them, so you can actually see it. And if you notice in the movie, you know, it goes even beyond just scalping and stuff.

When I took my clothes off in Blue Velvet, I wanted to convey the brutality of sex abuse. I wanted to look like a quartered cow hanging in a butcher shop as well as disturbingly appealing.

You know, we didn't want to kill anyone, but we knew that "Star Wars" is a generational tale. It always is. And for it to have some guts and some resonance and true stakes, I don't think that everyone could have come through the story unscathed.

I don't like diabolism so I stay away from things like Clockwork Orange. I think diabolism is awfully childish. I don't even want to see The Godfather. I couldn't stand seeing that horse's head cut off. I wouldn't mind if it were Marlon Brando's.

Words lie. Blood doesn't.

I foresee that man will resign himself each day to more atrocious undertakings; soon there will be no one but warriors and brigands; I give them this counsel: The author of an atrocious undertaking ought to imagine that he has already accomplished it, ought to impose upon himself a future as irrevocable as the past.

I love splashing the blood around.

Cause if you shoot a bullet someone dies. If you drop a bomb many die. You hit a woman, love dies. But if you say the F-word... nothing actually happens.

I want no part of peace with savages who throw acid on and gun down young girls going to school. I would prefer to crush them and kill them wherever they exist. That’s not being a warmonger. It’s being a realist.

I didn't want people to go out wanting to go tool up against the bad guys (and at impressionable ages). I said, don't shy away from the violence or pull back on this, commit to this.

You do what you have to do or a bigger demon eats out your liver and uses your spine to pick its teeth. (Caleb)

In war it does not matter who is right, but who is left.

Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.

There are no pure styles of karate. Purity comes only when pure knuckles meet pure flesh, no matter who delivers or receives.

You can't stamp on people and not get hurt in return.

Sacred or not, sacrifice is an ugly business.

True knights protect the weak.” He snorted. “There are no true knights, no more than there are gods. If you can’t protect yourself, die and get out of the way of those who can. Sharp steel and strong arms rule this world, don’t ever believe any different.” Sansa backed away from him. “You’re awful.” “I’m honest. It’s the world that’s awful.

Everyone wants to see someone shoot someone in the head.

Anger is like a ruin, which, in falling upon its victim, breaks itself to pieces.

You don't go through a bloodbath like this and then walk away from it.

If I had the opportunity, I would make the proposal that no man should be killed except by somebody who knows him well enough for the act to have impact. No death should be like nose blowing. Death is important enough that it should affect the person who causes it.