Henrik Ibsen Quotes
I'm plotting revolution against this lie that the majority has a monopoly of the truth. What are these truths that always bring the majority rallying round? Truths so elderly they are practically senile. And when a truth is as old as that, gentlemen, you can hardly tell it from a lie.
Ibsen, Henrik. An Enemy of the People. Translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, Walter Scott, 1890, p. 166.
No other religion has ever preached majority rule so clearly and unambiguously. Because of this strong democratic philosophy, some dictatorial governments see the Bahai as particularly dangerous. Also some religions who see their doctrine and the world of God as being always right and the majority of people should not determine morality are even law. They recognize a higher power. Iran, in particular, has been a terrible persecutor of Bahai, their largest religious minority, which is the antithesis to the concept of a theocracy and at the opposite end of the religious spectrum from Islam. Bahai leaders had been executed. Bahai there are not allowed to attend higher education institutions, build religious facilities, preach openly or serve in many roles. See {614912}.
His criticism of the majority is not that they should not prevail, but that they almost never think that they might be wrong.
Henrik Johan Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playwrights of his time. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, When We Dead Awaken, Rosmersholm, and The Master Builder. Ibsen is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare, and A Doll's House was the world's most performed play in 2006.
