Henrik Ibsen Quotes

Good god, people don't do such things!

Om jeg hamrer eller hamres,
ligefuldt så skal der jamres!

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!

It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make their experiments on journalists and politicians.

Det er just den rette oprørsånd at kræve lykken her i livet. Hvad ret har vi mennesker til lykken?

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.

Because there is surely nothing in the world that can compare with happiness of forgiveness and of lifting up a guilty sinner in the arms of love.

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!

oh, that was a terrible time for me, I can tell you. I kept the blinds drawn down over both my windows. When I peeped out, I saw the sun shining as if nothing had happened. I could not understand it. I saw people going along the street, laughing and talking about indifferent things. I could not understand it. It seemed to me that the whole of existence must be at a standstill — as if under an eclipse.

No, I don't think one ought to be at everybody's beck and call. Anyway, I'm not going to be.

Here in the north each night is a whole winter long. Yet the place is fair enough, doubt it not! Thou shalt see sights here such as thou hast not seen in the halls of the English king. We shall be together as sisters whilst thou bidest with me; we shall go down to the sea when the storm begins once more; thou shalt see the billows rushing upon the land like wild, white-maned horses — and then the whales far out in the offing! They dash one against another like steel-clad knights! Ha, what joy to be a witching-wife and ride on the whale's back — to speed before the skiff, and wake the storm, and lure men to the deeps with lovely songs of sorcery!

The idol of Authority must be shattered in this town.

To live is to war with trolls.

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

But a scientific man must live in a little bit of style.