Henrik Ibsen
89 quotes
Biography
"It is the very mark of the spirit of rebellion to crave for happiness in this life"
"A thousand words leave not the same deep impression as does a single deed."
"To live is to war with trolls."
"You see, there are some people that one loves, and others that perhaps one would rather be with."
"To live is - to war with trolls In the holds of the heart and mind"
"He who possesses liberty otherwise than as an aspiration possesses it soulless, dead. One of the qualities of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding. Therefore, the man who stands still in the midst of the struggle and says, "I have it," merely shows by so doing that he has just lost it. Now this very contentedness in the possession of a dead liberty is characteristic of the so-called State, and, as I have said, it is not a good characteristic. No doubt the franchise, self-taxation, etc., are benefits — but to whom? To the citizen, not to the individual. Now, reason does not imperatively demand that the individual should be a citizen. Far from it. The State is the curse of the individual. With what is Prussia's political strength bought? With the absorption of the individual in the political and geographical idea. The waiter is the best soldier. And on the other hand, take the Jewish people, the aristocracy of the human race — how is it they have kept their place apart, their poetical halo, amid surroundings of coarse cruelty? By having no State to burden them. Had they remained in Palestine, they would long ago have lost their individuality in the process of their State's construction, like all other nations. Away with the State! I will take part in that revolution. Undermine the whole conception of a State, declare free choice and spiritual kinship to be the only all-important conditions of any union, and you will have the commencement of a liberty that is worth something. Changes in forms of government are pettifogging affairs — a degree less or a degree more, mere foolishness. The State has its root in time, and will ripe and rot in time. Greater things than it will fall — religion, for example. Neither moral conceptions nor art-forms have an eternity before them. How much are we really in duty bound to pin our faith to? Who will guarantee me that on Jupiter two and two do not make five?"
"There are three Empires. First there is the Empire which was founded on the tree of knowledge. Then there is the Empire founded on the tree of the Cross. The third is still a secret Empire which will be founded on the tree of knowledge and the tree of the Cross — brought together."
"That power which circumstances placed in my hands, and which is an emanation of divinity, I am conscious of having used to the best of my skill. I have never wittingly wronged any one. For this campaign there were good and sufficient reasons; and if some should think that I have not fulfilled all expectations, they ought in justice to reflect that there is a mysterious power without us, which in a great measure governs the issue of human undertakings."
"Erring soul of man — if thou wast indeed forced to err, it shall surely be accounted to thee for good on that great day when the Mighty One shall descend in the clouds to judge the living dead and the dead who are yet alive!"
"At leve er — krig med trolde i hjertets og hjernens hvælv. At digte, — det er at holde dommedag over sig selv."
"The great secret of power is never to will to do more than you can accomplish. The great secret of action and victory is to be capable of living your life without ideals. Such is the sum of the whole world's wisdom."
"I hold that man is in the right who is most closely in league with the future."
"The great task of our time is to blow up all existing institutions — to destroy."
"It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make their experiments on journalists and politicians."
"Yes, Love shall win!"
"Ikke tusend ord sig prenter, som én gernings spor."
"Hvad skal manden v’re? Sig selv, det er mit korte svar."
"Really to sin you have to be serious about it."
"I'm afraid for all those who'll have the bread snatched from their mouths by these machines. You are very fond, sir, of talking about the consideration we owe to the community; it seems to me, however, that the community has its duties too. What business has science and capitalism got, bringing all these new inventions into the works, before society has produced a generation educated up to using them!"
"Look into any man's heart you please, and you will always find, in every one, at least one black spot which he has to keep concealed."
"The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom — these are the pillars of society."
"There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt."
"Nora.Look here, Doctor Rank - you know you want to live."
"Rank.Certainly. However wretched I may feel, I want to prolong the agony as long as possible.""
"I don't know whether you find also in your part of the world that there are certain people who go zealously snuffing about to smell out moral corruption, and, as soon as they have found some, put the person concerned into some lucrative position where they can keep their eye on him. Healthy natures are left out in the cold."