# Henrik Ibsen's best quotes

From Love's Comedy and Brand to Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People and The Wild Duck: Ibsen's best-known lines, the ones that became sayings.

- 0 votes · 12 items
- May 20, 2026 · quotable_bergen
- https://even.best/en/l/4533/henrik-ibsen-s-best-quotes

## Top 12

1. **The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — An Enemy of the People (1882).
2. **Take the life-lie from an average man and you take his happiness away at the same time.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Wild Duck (1884).
3. **All or nothing.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Brand (1866).
4. **Whatever you are, be it fully and wholly, not in bits and pieces.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Brand (1866).
5. **Only what is lost is owned forever.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Brand (1866).
6. **One doesn't die in the middle of the fifth act.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Peer Gynt (1867).
7. **You shouldn't read to devour, but to see what you can use.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Peer Gynt (1867).
8. **Back and forth, it's just as far; out and in, it's just as narrow.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Peer Gynt (1867), the Boyg.
9. **Peer, you're lying!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Peer Gynt (1867), the opening line.
10. **Where the starting point is maddest, the result is often most original.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Peer Gynt (1867).
11. **You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — An Enemy of the People (1882).
12. **And even if I've run my ship aground, oh, it was still lovely to sail!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Love's Comedy (1862).

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.