See, I don't get the sense that you need to direct at all. Sometimes I get the opposite sensation from you, that you're like, "I really should go do something else." But then you are drawn back in by a particular story, like a hangnail in the brain. Edward Norton More Quotes by Edward Norton More Quotes From Edward Norton The best films of any kind, narrative or documentary, provoke questions. Edward Norton documentariesnarrativekind The more you do your homework, the more you're free to be intuitive. But you've got to put the work in. Edward Norton actingmotivationalinspirational At this point in my life I'm not bent on proving anything, really. Edward Norton bentprove It's better for people to miss you than to have seen too much of you. Edward Norton too-muchmissing-youpeople It must be good to be in Germany and France, because I have completely forgotten what it is like to be proud of your government. Edward Norton germanyproudgovernment Life, like poker has an element of risk. It shouldn't be avoided. It should be faced. Edward Norton elementsriskshould Sometimes we don't see certain things until we're ready to see them in a certain way. Edward Norton visiondreamway I tend to relate to a character in terms of the arc: what's interesting is where he starts versus where he ends up. Edward Norton endscharacterinteresting All people are paradoxical. No one is easily reducible, so I like characters who have contradictory impulses or shades of ambiguity. It's fun, and it's fun because it's hard. Edward Norton funcharacterpeople When people come together too young, they try to become one person. As you get older, you realize that you don't want to become one person because then you lose the person you are. Edward Norton togethertryingpeople I don't have anything to prove to anybody, which is a lovely place to be. Edward Norton lovelyprove There are so many people who are conscientious and caring about others. I've spent time working in countries where I really noticed the absence of civic concern, care for other people. I've been in other countries where I feel a palpable, almost tooth-and-claw attitude between people - Machiavellian, me and mine. And you can take for granted being here, with all the bloviating and the media, on a day-to-day level, people in this country are really pretty concerned for each other. Edward Norton caringattitudecountry I've always thought of acting as more of an exercise in empathy, which is not to be confused with sympathy. You're trying to get inside a certain emotional reality or motivational reality and try to figure out what that's about so you can represent it. Edward Norton confusedexercisereality I think that the environmental movement is wisely moving away from a largely emotion-based argument for the spiritual or intrinsic value of Nature with a capital "N" and evolving toward a very hard-nosed case for the economic value of natural capital, ecosystem services, biodiversity, etc. Edward Norton spiritualmovingthinking I'm fascinated by the ways in which people express themselves, because their responses are often counter to what they're actually feeling. Like when they're frightened, they tend to freeze. When they're angry, it doesn't always come out as volume. There are wonderful contradictions in the way that people express their emotions. Edward Norton feelingspeopleway Instead of telling the world what you're eating for breakfast, you can use social networking to do something that's meaningful. Edward Norton usemeaningfulworld I never think that a film should answer questions for you. I think it should make you ask a lot of questions. Edward Norton filmanswersthinking Sometimes creativity is a compulsion, not an ambition. Edward Norton creativityambitionsometimes I almost forgot what it's like to be proud of my government. Edward Norton be-proudproudgovernment I like it when the deeper you go with the character, the more you see the layers start to peel away. Edward Norton layersdeepercharacter
