Henrik Ibsen Quotes

You see, there are some people that one loves, and others that perhaps one would rather be with.

~ Henrik Ibsen

To live is to war with trolls.

~ Henrik Ibsen

A thousand words leave not the same deep impression as does a single deed.

~ Henrik Ibsen

I am in revolt against the age-old lie that the majority is always right.

~ Henrik Ibsen

It is the very mark of the spirit of rebellion to crave for happiness in this life

~ Henrik Ibsen

I am afraid, Torvald, I do not exactly know what religion is. ... When I am away from all this, and am alone, I will look into that matter too. I will see if what the clergyman said is true, or at all events if it is true for me.

~ Henrik Ibsen

People so easily forget their past selves.

~ Henrik Ibsen

I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being, just as you are--or, at all events, that I must try and become one.

~ Henrik Ibsen

The right? Ah, what does it help to be in the right if you don't have any power?

~ Henrik Ibsen

NORA: Yes; it is just so, Torvald. While I was still at home with father, he used to tell me all his views, and so of course I held the same views; if at any time I had a different view I concealed it, because he would not have liked people with opinions of their own. He used to call me his little doll, and play with me, as I in my turn used to play with my dolls. Then I came to live in your house.

~ Henrik Ibsen

NORA: No; only merry. And you were always so friendly and kind to me. But our house has been nothing but a nursery. Here I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I used to be papa's doll-child. And my children were, in their turn, my dolls. I was exceedingly delighted when you played with me, just as children were whenever I played with them. That has been our marriage, Torvald.

~ Henrik Ibsen

You arranged everything according to your own taste, and so I got the same tastes as you - or else I pretended to. I am really not quite sure which - I think sometimes the one and sometimes the other.

~ Henrik Ibsen

When I was at home with papa, he told me his opinion about everything, and so I had the same opinions; and if I differed from him I concealed the fact, because he would not have liked it. He called me his doll-child, and he played with me just as I used to play with my dolls.

~ Henrik Ibsen

She was an extraordinary person too! Would you believe it, she cut her hair short, and used to go about in men’s boots in bad weather

~ Henrik Ibsen

I don't imagine you will dispute the fact that at present the stupid people are in an absolutely overwhelming majority all the world over.

~ Henrik Ibsen

Most people are ennobled by the actual presence of death. But how long do you suppose this nobility will last in him?

~ Henrik Ibsen

We will talk of this again, when the grass has first withered on her grave. Then you'll hear him spouting about the child too early torn from her father's heart; then you'll see him steep himself in a syrup of sentiment and self-admiration and self-pity. Just you wait!

~ Henrik Ibsen

What is the difference in being alone with another and being alone by one's self?

~ Henrik Ibsen

You see, the point is that the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.

~ Henrik Ibsen

Helmer: I would gladly work night and day for you. Nora- bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves.Nora: It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done.

~ Henrik Ibsen

Torvald: I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora--bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves. Nora: But hundreds of thousands of women have done!

~ Henrik Ibsen

The strongest man in the world is he who stands alone.

~ Henrik Ibsen

Laughter's all the damned thing's fit for.

~ Henrik Ibsen

It's not only what we have inherited from our father and mother that walks in us. It's all sorts of dead ideas, and lifeless old beliefs, and so forth. They have no vitality, but they cling to us all the same, and we can't get rid of them.

~ Henrik Ibsen

Ghosts! […] I almost think we are all of us ghosts. It is not only what we have inherited from our father and mother that ‘walks’ in us. It is all sorts of dead ideas, and lifeless old beliefs, and so forth. They have no vitality, but they cling to us all the same, and we cannot shake them off. Whenever I take up a newspaper, I seem to see ghosts gliding between the lines. There must be ghosts all the country over, as thick as the sands of the sea. And then we are, one and all, so pitifully afraid of the light.

~ Henrik Ibsen

While I think of it, Mr. Werle, junior — don't use that foreign word: ideals. We have the excellent native word: lies.

~ Henrik Ibsen

Cage an eagle and it will bite at the wires, be they ofiron or of gold.

~ Henrik Ibsen

One should never put on one's best trousers to go out to battle for freedom and truth.

~ Henrik Ibsen

A forest bird never wants a cage.

~ Henrik Ibsen

The spectacles of experience through them you will see clearly a second time.

~ Henrik Ibsen

These heroes of finance are like beads on a string; when one slips off, all the rest follow.

~ Henrik Ibsen

The pillars of truth and the pillars of freedom - they are the pillars of society.

~ Henrik Ibsen

Never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

~ Henrik Ibsen

The worst enemy of truth and freedom in our society is the compact majority.

~ Henrik Ibsen

The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom - these are the pillars of society.

~ Henrik Ibsen

People who don't know how to keep themselves healthy ought to have the decency to get themselves buried, and not waste time about it.

~ Henrik Ibsen

Marriage! Nothing else demands so much of a man.

~ Henrik Ibsen

Home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as it is founded on borrowing and debt.

~ Henrik Ibsen

Your home is regarded as a model home, your life as a model life. But all this splendor, and you along with it... it's just as though it were built upon a shifting quagmire. A moment may come, a word can be spoken, and both you and all this splendor will collapse.

~ Henrik Ibsen

The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.

~ Henrik Ibsen