Quotes by Henrik Ibsen

"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 in the midst of the struggle and says, 'I have it,' merely shows by doing so that he has just lost it."

"A forest bird never wants a cage."

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

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

"A man should never put on his best trousers when he goes out to battle for freedom and truth."

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

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

"A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm."

"A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed."

"Marriage! Nothing else demands so much of a man."

"Do not use that foreign word 'ideals.' We have that excellent native word 'lies.'"

"Do you know what we are those of us who count as pillars of society? We are society's tools, neither more nor less."

"Castles in the air - they are so easy to take refuge in. And so easy to build too."

"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."

"A minority may be right, and a majority is always wrong."

"The majority is always wrong; the minority is rarely right."

"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."

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

"The devil is compromise."

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

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

"Don't use that foreign word 'ideals.' We have that excellent native word 'lies.'"

"Rob the average man of his life-illusion and you rob him also of his happiness."

"I'm afraid for all those who'll have the bread snatched from their mouths by these machines. 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!"

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

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

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

"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!"

"The man whom God wills to slay in the struggle of life - he first individualizes."

"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."