Labor and trouble one can always get through alone, but it takes two to be glad.
Henrik IbsenRead
Ah, I fancy it is just the same with most of what you call your emancipation. You have read yourself into a number of new ideas and opinions. You have got a sort of smattering of recent discoveries in various fields - discoveries that seem to overthrow certain principles which have hitherto been held impregnable and unassailable. But all this has only been a matter of intellect, Miss West - superficial acquisition. It has not passed into your blood.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True emancipation involves deep understanding, not just superficial knowledge.
In this quote, Henrik Ibsen emphasizes that many people may acquire a variety of new ideas and knowledge but fail to internalize these insights deeply. He suggests that simply accumulating information without true comprehension or personal transformation is inadequate for genuine growth or emancipation.
Themes
EmancipationKnowledgeUnderstandingSuperficialIntellect
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech to emphasize the importance of deep learning over mere academic achievement.
More from Henrik Ibsen
All quotes →The majority never has right on its side. Never, I say! That is one of these social lies against which an independent, intelligent men must wage war. Who is it that constitute the majority of the population in a country? Is it the clever folk, or the stupid? 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 IbsenRead
I believe that before anything else I'm a human being -- just as much as you are... or at any rate I shall try to become one. I know quite well that most people would agree with you, Torvald, and that you have warrant for it in books; but I can't be satisfied any longer with what most people say, and with what's in books. I must think things out for myself and try to understand them.
Henrik IbsenRead
One should never put on one's best trousers to go out to fight for freedom.
Henrik IbsenRead
It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make their experiments on journalists and politicians.
Henrik IbsenRead
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.
Henrik IbsenRead
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