Labor and trouble one can always get through alone, but it takes two to be glad.
Henrik IbsenRead
Friends are to be feared, not so much for what they make us do as what they keep us from doing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the potential negative influence of friends on our actions and decisions.
Henrik Ibsen's quote suggests that while friends may have a strong impact on our decisions, the more critical aspect is the opportunity cost of their influence. Friends can sometimes discourage us from pursuing our true potential or taking risks, perhaps out of jealousy or a desire to maintain the status quo in the relationship, and it's important to be aware of how their presence can limit our growth and choices.
Themes
FriendsInfluenceDecisionsPotentialOpportunity Cost
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the importance of self-discovery, you could use this quote to emphasize being cautious about peer pressure.
More from Henrik Ibsen
All quotes βThe 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
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.
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
Similar quotes
I'm a fan of people getting together.
Ellen DegeneresRead
Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner. The asset I most value, aside from health, is interesting, diverse, and long-standing friends.
Warren BuffettRead
I dreamed in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth; I dreamed that was the new City of Friends; Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust loveβit led the rest; It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words.
Walt WhitmanRead
Strange children should smile at each other and say, "Let's play.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
Strangers are exciting, their mystery never ends. But, there's nothing like looking at your own history in the faces of your friends.
Ani DifrancoRead
only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say it is I you have been looking for, and then goes with you everywhere like a shadow or a friend.
Naomi Shihab NyeRead