cultural resources in henrik ibsen's early environment - Ibsen.net

the execution can be associated, and it must therefore be important to him to know
himself, in order to know whether his strength is capable of clearing away the former or
his courage permits him to approach the latter; and knowledge of himself must therefore
always be of predominant influence on the person's mode of action, since only thereby is
one put in a position more-or-less certainly to be able to calculate the outcome of his
projects.
It can therefore certainly also be maintained that, provided that the person himself
is actually capable of something with respect to his destiny, then the chances of this
would be better if he possessed self-knowledge enough always to adjust his actions
according to the abilities he had at his disposal, and always to know his inclinations
enough not to let them get the upper hand.
Accordingly, in every direction of the person's endeavor self-knowledge is
challenged, in order to be able to exert an influence for the benefit of himself and others;
it is therefore of the highest necessity to acquire this knowledge, and if, then, as he learns
to know his less good sides, the person is placed more than once in the necessity of
having to humble himself before himself, even so this humiliation can still not weaken
the person's self-respect in any way, since it demonstrates all the more a strong will and
an honest striving for that which is the person's goal in life: the development of his
spiritual abilities and the concern for his temporal welfare.
Grimstad, the 3rd of February 1848.
2. Labor is its own reward.
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