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Remember the parable of talents—the story of the three servants who had received talents, five, two and one respectively? When their master returned they all gave account of their stewardship. The first two had doubled their capital. Each of them said so in sixteen words and their work was pronounced, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' The third servant had accomplished absolutely nothing but his report took forty-three words, three times as long as each of the other two reports. Don’t be like servant number three. Make good! Don’t explain your failure! Do the thing you are expected to do! Then you won’t have to explain why you didn't, couldn’t, wouldn’t, or shouldn’t. Efficiency! That is the soul-satisfying joy of making good. Doing your work just a little better than anyone else gives you the margin of success. Making good required no explanation. Failure required forty-three words.

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Oct 22, 2025

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Quote Author: Henrik Johan Ibsen

Henrik Johan Ibsen

Henrik Johan Ibsen

Henrik Johan Ibsen (March 20, 1828 - May 23, 1906) was a major Norwegian playwright largely responsible for the rise of modern realistic drama. He is often referred to as the "father of modern drama." Ibsen is held to be the greatest of Norwegian authors and one of the most important playwrights of all time, celebrated as a national symbol by Norwegians.

His plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when Victorian values of family life and propriety largely held sway in Europe and any challenge to them was considered immoral and outrageous. Ibsen's work examined the realities that lay behind many facades, possessing a revelatory nature that was disquieting to many contemporaries.

Ibsen largely founded the modern stage by introducing a critical eye and free inquiry into the conditions of life and issues of morality. Victorian-era plays were expected to be moral dramas with noble protagonists pitted against darker forces; every drama was expected to result in a morally appropriate conclusion, meaning that goodness was to bring happiness, and immorality pain. Ibsen challenged this notion and the beliefs of his times and shattered the illusions of his audiences.

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