{Bjørnson on the great Colonel Robert Ingersoll, whom he translated into Norwegian}

I am very sorry that, when I was in America, I did not have the opportunity to grasp the hand of a man who, with the sword, fought to free from bodily slavery three millions of people, and who has shown the way to intellectual freedom to many millions more. I envy the land that brings forth such glorious fruit as Ingersoll.

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson