Henrik Ibsen Quotes

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.

The most dangerous enemy of the truth and freedom amongst us is the compact majority

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.

Not in that sense. What I need is the companionship of another person who can, as it were, complete me — supply what is wanting in me — be one with me in all my striving. MAIA.

"But no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves."

"It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done."

A party is like a sausage machine, it grinds up all sorts of heads together into the same baloney ...

Yes, Love shall win!

It's a liberation to know that an act of spontaneous courage is yet possible in this world. An act that has something of unconditional beauty.

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

What ought a man to be? Well, my short answer is ‘himself’.

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.

it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man.

[From below comes the noise of a door slamming.]

Castles in the air — they are so easy to take refuge in. And so easy to build, too.

Nora.'Look here, Doctor Rank - you know you want to live.