Henrik Ibsen quotes
1828 – 1906 · Norway, 19th century · playwright, theatre director and poet
About Henrik Ibsen
Born in Skien in 1828, Ibsen worked as an apothecary’s assistant, ran theatres and then lived mainly abroad (1864–1891). He wrote historical and visionary plays before turning to psychologically precise social dramas—A Doll’s House, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler—that probe how institutions shape private life.
Works: A Doll’s House; Ghosts; Hedda Gabler; Peer Gynt
Quotes
“The majority is always wrong; the minority is rarely right.”
Source: An Enemy of the People, Act IV (1882) · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The maxim is a later compressed wording derived from Dr. Stockmann's speeches in Act IV of An Enemy of the People; the play is the clear source material.
- What remains uncertain
- The exact English sentence is not securely documented in Ibsen's original and reflects translation, condensation, and quotation drift rather than a verbatim line.
Ibsen stages how collective interest can silence inconvenient facts: when livelihoods depend on a comforting myth, the town unites against the truth. The familiar sentence paraphrases Dr. Stockmann's attack on the 'compact majority' in Act IV of An Enemy of the People (1882). It's a dramatic warning that numbers don't guarantee truth.