I never think that a film should answer questions for you. I think it should make you ask a lot of questions. — Edward Norton

Most of the films that I’ve ever really responded to are ones that I feel were really involved in their times. — Edward Norton

You know, independent films have been institutionalized, practically. Every studio has got a boutique arthouse label. — Edward Norton

I don’t smoke and I don’t want to smoke. I am not a fan of gratuitous smoking in films. — Edward Norton

I think technology is having a democratising effect on film. — Edward Norton

The film industry needs to confront the physical footprint of the way films get made. — Edward Norton

The best films of any kind, narrative or documentary, provoke questions. — Edward Norton

I have this embedded faith in the process through which films of a certain type get discovered on longer timelines. — Edward Norton

Practiced poorly, tourism can be extremely negative. — Edward Norton

As we say in the sewer, time and tide wait for no man. — Edward Norton

If you try to make interesting films, you’re going to be disappointed most of the time. I choose just not to look at it that way. — Edward Norton

I don’t tend to say it’s time for one of this or that genre. Things flow to you in a strange way, and why you bump into a certain kind of thing in one moment is…it’s hard to explain. — Edward Norton

I knew Danny DeVito and he knew me, so he wanted me to try Death to Smoochy. I loved that stuff and had a great time doing it. — Edward Norton

I’m not a very methodologically pure actor. Almost every time that I start, I feel completely at sea. Always at the beginning I feel like a fraud, really, because I’m never sure how to get started. — Edward Norton

Everyone keeps saying the western’s dead, but it’s not. — Edward Norton

If you’ve got a piece and you can feel the person who’s going to direct it is really made for it, if it’s really special for them, then it’s going to be a better–than–usual experience. — Edward Norton

You know when somebody really knows what they’re drawing from and you can feel it when you see the movie. — Edward Norton

I do find myself drawn more to pieces that I feel are wrestling with the way that we’re living now, what we’re all going through. — Edward Norton

Well, I don’t feel that I’ve played so many bad guys, and I’m rot really drawn to villains per se. I think a lot of people relate to some of my characters’ inner struggles. — Edward Norton

I’ve always liked the idea of taking old dramatic ideas and devices and making them feel relevant or contemporary or whatever. — Edward Norton

A lot of why I do something is just the novelty of the experience. — Edward Norton

I’m not particularly precious about the theatrical experience any more. — Edward Norton

People think because I went to Yale that that implies privilege, and it is a privilege in the sense that it’s an incredible opportunity. — Edward Norton

It’s better for people to miss you than to have seen too much of you. — Edward Norton

Screenplays aren’t written to be read, they’re written to be made into movies. — Edward Norton

Most of the movies that I’ve made that I really felt good about and cared about made very little money anyway, so I’m not particularly worried about people downloading and sharing them. — Edward Norton

I grow tired of intelligence having such a limited manifestation in movies–’intelligence’ usually meaning coastal, with a certain level of formal education. — Edward Norton

People say you can’t make movies about your politics or the environment. And, generally speaking, I completely divide those sides of my brain. — Edward Norton

I like making movies for myself and my friends and people with my sensibility. — Edward Norton

People wrestle sometimes making movies, and I think that conflict is a very essential thing. I think a lot of very happy productions have produced a lot of very banal movies. — Edward Norton

My greatest hope is that we transcend the most fearful thing, which is that we are rapidly degrading the ecological systems on this planet that support everything we are doing and all life on it. — Edward Norton

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

In drama, I think, the audience is a willing participant. It’s suspending a certain kind of disbelief to try to get something out of a story. — Edward Norton

I don’t flatter myself–I’m not a scientist, I’m not a conservation expert. — Edward Norton

Popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige, my friend. — Edward Norton

We must realize that nature is absolutely essential for our survival, and we must act on that premise now. — Edward Norton

Duality is not a story. Duality is just a complexity. — Edward Norton

Identical twins are endemically alike in many ways. — Edward Norton

If two people are at completely different stages in their spiritual life, that can present a real problem. — Edward Norton

You always end up getting involved in things because of, you know, the strange things your life brings you into contact with. — Edward Norton

It’s a dream to be in a company of actors. — Edward Norton

Young people know how to use these social networking tools, and they know how to use them effectively. — Edward Norton

I don’t get much out of doing a red carpet. — Edward Norton

Basically, I think 21st century conservation is moving toward preserving ecosystems by dealing with the needs of people. — Edward Norton

Life, like poker has an element of risk. It shouldn’t be avoided. It should be faced. — Edward Norton

I tend to have a kind of tunnel vision when I’m looking at an individual piece. — Edward Norton

Most of what I know about environmental conservation I learned from my father, who has been a leader within the movement for over 30 years. — Edward Norton

At this point in my life I’m not bent on proving anything, really. — Edward Norton

Sometimes creativity is a compulsion, not an ambition. — Edward Norton

No, I’m not a very methodologically pure actor. — Edward Norton

I’m a Tulsa Jew and I have a religious upbringing. — Edward Norton