I must make up my mind which is right – society or I.

Deprive the average human being of his life-lie, and you rob him of his happiness

The majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That’s one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can help rebelling against. Who are the people that make up the biggest...

A woman cannot be herself in modern society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess female conduct from a male standpoint.

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.

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

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...

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...

Sleep, O sleep, my dearest boy. / I will cradle you, I will guard you.

A marriage based on full confidence, based on complete and unqualified frankness on both sides; they are not keeping anything back; there’s no deception underneath it all. If I might so put it, it’s an...

But, merciful God! People don’t do such things!

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.

A forest bird never wants a cage.

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

Sjel, vær trofast til det siste!Seirens seir er alt å miste.Tapets alt din vinning skapte; -evig eies kun det tapte.

The pillars of truth and the pillars of freedom – they are the pillars of society

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

As you can see, I’m a button-moulder. / You must go into my casting ladle.

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

Do not use that foreign word “ideals.” We have that excellent native word “lies.”

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...

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 spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom – these are the pillars of society.

To live is to war with trolls.

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

I can see him. With vine leaves in his hair.

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

You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth

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,...

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

I don’t wish you anything but just what you are – my own sweet little song-bird.

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

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

Each bird must sing with his own throat

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 was then that I began to look into the seams of your doctrine. I wanted only to pick at a single knot; but when I had got that undone, the whole thing raveled out....

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Money may be the husk of many things, but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintances, but not friends; servants, but not faithfulness; days of joy, but...

In your power, all the same. Subject to your will and your demands. No longer free! No! That’s a thought I’ll never endure! Never.

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

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

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

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...

Marriage! Nothing else demands so much of a man.