Zitate von Henrik Ibsen

„Glück ist zuerst und vor allen Dingen das stille, frohe, sichere Gefühl der Schuldlosigkeit.“

Ein Volksfeind, 5. Akt. Aus: Sämmtliche Werke. Hrsg. von Julius Elias, Paul Schlenther. 4. Band. Berlin: Fischer, 1907. S. 277.
"En skulde aldrig ha sine bedste bukser på, når en er ude og strider for frihed og sandhed." - Samlede værker: bd. Et dukkehjem. Gengangere. En folkefiende. Vildanden. Rosmersholm. 1907, p. 208 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=kb41K_a9lXIC&q=bukser

„Die Mehrheit hat nie das Recht auf ihrer Seite. Nie, sag' ich! Das ist auch so eine von den gesellschaftlichen Lügen, gegen die ein freier, denkender Mann sich empören muß.“

Rosmersholm, 3. Akt. Aus: Sämmtliche Werke. Hrsg. von Julius Elias, Paul Schlenther. 4. Band. Berlin: Fischer, 1907. S. 485.

„Der ist der stärkste Mann auf der Welt, der allein steht.“

Ein Volksfeind. Aus: Sämmtliche Werke. Hrsg. von Julius Elias, Paul Schlenther. 4. Band. Berlin: Fischer, 1907. S. 264.

„Der Geist der Wahrheit und der Geist der Freiheit, - das sind die Stützen der Gesellschaft.“

Ein Volksfeind, 5. Akt. Aus: Sämmtliche Werke. Hrsg. von Julius Elias, Paul Schlenther. 4. Band. Berlin: Fischer, 1907. S. 298.
"Saken er den, ser I, at den sterkeste mann i verden, det er han som står mest alene." - Samlede værker: bd. Et dukkehjem. Gengangere. En folkefiende. Vildanden. Rosmersholm. 1907, p. 223 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=kb41K_a9lXIC&q=%22mest+alene%22

„Der gefährlichste Feind der Wahrheit und Freiheit bei uns - das ist die kompakte Majorität.“

Stützen der Gesellschaft, 4. Akt. Aus: Sämmtliche Werke. Hrsg. von Julius Elias, Paul Schlenther. 3. Band. Berlin: Fischer, 1907. gutenberg.de http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/?id=5&xid=3984&kapitel=5&cHash=ff59b90f0f2#gb_found

„Daß Du nicht kannst, wird Dir verziehen, // Doch nimmermehr, daß Du nicht willst.“

Ein Volksfeind, 4. Akt. Aus: Sämmtliche Werke. Hrsg. von Julius Elias, Paul Schlenther. 4. Band. Berlin: Fischer, 1907. S. 263.

„Das steht doch nicht bei einem selber, wen man lieb gewinnen soll.“

Brand, 3. Akt. Aus: Sämmtliche Werke. Hrsg. von Julius Elias, Paul Schlenther. 2. Band. Berlin: Fischer, 1907. S. 299.

„Das ist das Verdammte an den kleinen Verhältnissen, daß sie die Seelen klein machen.“

Baumeister Solneß, II, 6 (Hilda). Deutsch von Sigurd Ibsen (1859-1930). Leipzig: Reclam, o.J. S. 61. gutenberg.org http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23679/23679-h/23679-h.htm

„Das Einzige, was ich an der Freiheit liebe, ist der Kampf um sie.“

Brief an Magdalene Thoresen, Sorrent den 15. Oktober 1867. Zitiert in: Henrik Ibsens Dramen. Zwanzig Vorlesungen, gehalten an der Universität Wien von Emil Reich. 6. Auflage. Dresden: Pierson, 1908. S. 122.
"det er det forbandede ved de smaa Forholde, at de gjør Sjælene smaa." - http://ibsen.uio.no/BREV_1844-1871ht%7CB18671015MT.xhtml

„Alle Entwicklung ist bis jetzt nichts weiter gewesen als ein Taumeln von einem Irrtum in den anderen.“

Brief an Georg Brandes, Dresden, 20. Dezember 1870. Hier nach books.google (S. 147) http://books.google.de/books?id=7wsYAAAAIAAJ&q=dezember

„Preußen ist ein Staat von Duckmäusern, und Duckmäuser sind die besten Soldaten“

Brief an Georg Brandes, 4. April 1872. Zitiert in: Josef Wiehr: Hebbel und Ibsen in ihren Anschauungen verglichen. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1908. S. 34.
"al udvikling har hidtil ikke været andet end en slingren fra den ene vildfarelse over i den anden." - http://ibsen.uio.no/BREV_1871-1879ht%7CB18720404GB.xhtml

„Nach einem guten Festmahl knausert man nicht mit Kleingeld.“

zitiert nach: Rudolf Rocker: Der Kapp-Putsch. Eine Schilderung aus dem Deutschland der Noske-Diktatur. (Schwedisches Original: Rudolf Rocker: Kapp-Kuppen. En skildring från noskediktaturens tyskland. Av en tysk. Översettning av F. S., Örebro 1920) Rückübersetzung von Erik Alfredson, Syndikat A Medienvertrieb, Moers 2010, hier S. 19.

„Ibsen aber bleibt ein großer Dichter, was auch die anmaßlichen Schwätzer des Tages sich gegen ihn erlauben.“

Baumeister Solness I / Solness

„But our home's been nothing but a playpen. I've been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa's doll-child.“

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff: Erinnerungen 1848–1914. Leipzig 1928. http://www.zeno.org/nid/20003844927

„The majority never has right on its side.“

Nora Helmer, Act III
Variant translation: Our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was papa's doll-child; and here the children have been my dolls. I thought it great fun when you played with me, just as they thought it great fun when I played with them. That is what our marriage has been, Torvald.
A Doll's House (1879)
Kontext: But our home's been nothing but a playpen. I've been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa's doll-child. And in turn the children have been my dolls. I thought it fun when you played with me, just as they thought it fun when I played with them. That's been our marriage, Torvald.

„He who possesses liberty otherwise than as an aspiration possesses it soulless, dead. One of the qualities of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding.“

— Henrik Ibsen, Ein Volksfeind

Act IV
Flertallet har magten — desværre —; men retten har det ikke. Retten har jeg og de andre få, de enkelte. Minoriteten har altid retten. http://books.google.com/books?id=3VcqAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Flertallet+har+magten+desv%C3%A6rre+men+retten+har+det+ikke+Retten+har+jeg+og+de+andre+f%C3%A5+de+enkelte+Minoriteten+har+altid+retten%22&pg=PA134#v=onepage
The majority has the might — more's the pity — but it hasn't right. I am right — I and one or two other individuals like me. The minority is always right. http://books.google.com/books?id=Vl0Xb4lPL5IC&q=%22The+majority+has+the+might+more's+the+pity+but+it+hasn't+right+I+am+right+I+and+one+or+two+other+individuals+like+me+The+minority+is+always+right%22&pg=PA96#v=onepage
An Enemy of the People (1882)
Kontext: Dr, Stockmann: It is the majority in our community that denies me my freedom and seeks to prevent my speaking the truth.
Hovstad: The majority always has right on its side.
Billing: And truth too, by God!
Dr. Stockmann: The majority never has right on its side. Never I say! That is one of those social lies against which an independent, intelligent man 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. But, good Lord!— you can never pretend that it is right that the stupid folk should govern the clever ones! [the crowd cries out] Oh yes— you can shout me down, I know! But you cannot answer me. The majority has might on its side-unfortunately; but right it has not. I am in the right— I and a few other scattered individuals. The minority is always in the right.

„Nothing shall part us, and our life shall prove
A song of glory to triumphant love!“

Letter to Georg Brandes (17 February 1871), as translated in Henrik Ibsen : Björnstjerne Björnson. Critical Studies (1899) by Georg Morris Cohen Brandes
Variant translation: The quality of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding. Therefore, the man who stands still in the midst of the struggle and says: "I have it," merely shows by so doing that he has lost it. Now this very contentedness in the possession of a dead liberty is a characteristic of the so-called state; and it is worthless.
As translated in Ibsen : The Man, His Art & His Significance (1907) by Haldane Macfall, p. 238
Variant translation: Neither moral concepts nor art forms can expect to live forever. How much are we obliged to hold on to? Who can guarantee that 2 plus 2 don't add up to 5 on Jupiter?
Kontext: He who possesses liberty otherwise than as an aspiration possesses it soulless, dead. 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 still in the midst of the struggle and says, "I have it," merely shows by so doing that he has just lost it. Now this very contentedness in the possession of a dead liberty is characteristic of the so-called State, and, as I have said, it is not a good characteristic. No doubt the franchise, self-taxation, etc., are benefits — but to whom? To the citizen, not to the individual. Now, reason does not imperatively demand that the individual should be a citizen. Far from it. The State is the curse of the individual. With what is Prussia's political strength bought? With the absorption of the individual in the political and geographical idea. The waiter is the best soldier. And on the other hand, take the Jewish people, the aristocracy of the human race — how is it they have kept their place apart, their poetical halo, amid surroundings of coarse cruelty? By having no State to burden them. Had they remained in Palestine, they would long ago have lost their individuality in the process of their State's construction, like all other nations. Away with the State! I will take part in that revolution. Undermine the whole conception of a State, declare free choice and spiritual kinship to be the only all-important conditions of any union, and you will have the commencement of a liberty that is worth something. Changes in forms of government are pettifogging affairs — a degree less or a degree more, mere foolishness. The State has its root in time, and will ripe and rot in time. Greater things than it will fall — religion, for example. Neither moral conceptions nor art-forms have an eternity before them. How much are we really in duty bound to pin our faith to? Who will guarantee me that on Jupiter two and two do not make five?

„I thank God that in the bath of Pain
He purged my love.“

— Henrik Ibsen, Love's Comedy

Falk, Act III
Love's Comedy (1862)
Kontext: I feel myself like God's lost prodigal;
I left Him for the world's delusive charms.
With mild reproof He wooed me to his arms;
And when I come, He lights the vaulted hall,
Prepares a banquet for the son restored,
And makes His noblest creature my reward.
From this time forth I'll never leave that Light, —
But stand its armed defender in the fight;
Nothing shall part us, and our life shall prove
A song of glory to triumphant love!