Labor and trouble one can always get through alone, but it takes two to be glad.
The man whom God wills to slay in the struggle of life - he first individualizes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that those destined for significant challenges or downfall must first stand out as individuals.
Ibsen's quote reflects the idea that a person marked for adversity or conflict in life must first carve out their unique identity or perspective. It implies that individualism can lead to both empowerment and vulnerability, as one may attract challenges by standing apart from the crowd. This can be interpreted as a commentary on the nature of struggle in life, where defining oneself can either fortify or jeopardize one's position in the world.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in motivational speeches to encourage individuals to embrace their uniqueness, especially when facing challenges.
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.
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.
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.
One should never put on one's best trousers to go out to fight for freedom.
It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make their experiments on journalists and politicians.
Similar quotes
That's all nonviolence is - organized love.
If psychoanalysis clarifies some facts of sexuality, it is not by aiming at them in their own reality, not in biological experience.
Many people have turned back because they are afraid to look at things from God's perspective. The greatest spiritual crisis comes when a person has to move a little farther on in his faith than the beliefs he has already accepted.
Every sensation shares the same characteristic: it arises and passes away, arises and passes away. It is this arising and passing that we have to experience through practice, not just accept as truth because Buddha said so, not just accept because intellectually it seems logical enough to us. We must experience sensation’s nature, understand its flux, and learn not to react to it.
The silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the omega, it is God's brooding over the face of the waters; it is the blinded note of the ten thousand things, the whine of wings. You take a step in the right direction to pray to this silence, and even to address the prayer to "World." Distinctions blur. Quit your tents. Pray without ceasing.
With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.