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| A Doll's House Quotes |
"You see, there are some people that one loves, and others that perhaps one would rather be with."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"You have never loved me. You have only thought it pleasant to be in love with me."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"I must make up my mind which is right – society or I."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"I'll risk everything together with you."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"Helmer: I would gladly work night and day for you. Nora- bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves.
Nora: It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being, just as you are--or, at all events, that I must try and become one."
— Henrik Ibsen (The Doll's House: A Play)
"I must stand quite alone, if I am to understand myself and everything about me."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"Mrs LINDE: When you've sold yourself once for the sake of others, you don't do it second time."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
A Doll's House Quotes About Money
"it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"It was only what I used to dream and earn money. I almost felt as if I were a man."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
A Doll's House Act 1 Quotes
"There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. ."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"No, my poor Nora, of course you couldn’t. You simply wanted to make us happy, and that’s all that matters. ."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"Hasn't a daughter the right to protect her dying father from worry and anxiety? Hasn't a wife the right to save her husband's life? I don't know much about the law, but I'm quite certain that it must say somewhere that things like that are allowed. ."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"Many a man can save himself if he admits he's done wrong and takes his punishment. ."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"You’re a funny little creature. Just like your father used to be. Always on the look-out for some way to get money, but as soon as you have any it just runs through your fingers and you never know where it’s gone. Well, I suppose I must take you as you are. It’s in your blood. Yes, yes, yes, these things are hereditary, Nora. ."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
A Doll's House Act 2 Quotes
"Nora, darling, you're dancing as if your life depended on it! ."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
" But surely you can understand that being with Torvald is a little like being with Papa. ."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"But we – well, we were school friends. It was one of those friendships that one enters into over-hastily and so often comes to regret later in life. I might as well confess the truth. We – well, we’re on Christian name terms. And the tactless idiot makes no attempt to conceal it when other people are present. On the contrary, he thinks it gives him the right to be familiar with me. ."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
A Doll's House Act 3 Quotes
" And life has taught me not to believe in fine speeches. ."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
" I have learned to act prudently. Life and hard, bitter necessity have taught me that. "
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
" I am going to see if I can make out who is right, the world or I. ."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
" Do you understand now what it is you have done for me? ."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
A Doll's House Nora Quotes
"I believe that before anything else I'm a human being -- just as much as you are... or at any rate I shall try to become one. I know quite well that most people would agree with you, Torvald, and that you have warrant for it in books; but I can't be satisfied any longer with what most people say, and with what's in books. I must think things out for myself and try to understand them."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"NORA: I must stand on my own two feet if I'm to get to know myself and the world outside. That's why I can't stay here with you any longer."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
Nora: It's true Torvald. When I lived at home with Papa, he used to tell me his opinion about everything, and so I had the same opinion. If I thought differently, I had to hide it from him, or he wouldn't have liked it. He called me his little doll, and he used to play with me just as I played with my dolls. Then I came to live in your house -
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"NORA: No; only merry. And you were always so friendly and kind to me. But our house has been nothing but a nursery. Here I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I used to be papa's doll-child. And my children were, in their turn, my dolls."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)
"HELMER:—To forsake your home, your husband, and your children! You don’t consider what the world will say.
NORA:—I can pay no heed to that. I only know what I must do.
HELMER:—It is exasperating! Can you forsake your holiest duties in this world?
NORA:—What do you call my holiest duties?
HELMER:—Do you ask me that? Your duties to your husband and your children.
NORA:—I have other duties equally sacred.
HELMER:—Impossible! What duties do you mean?
NORA:—My duties towards myself.
HELMER:—Before all else you are a wife and a mother.
NORA:—That I no longer believe. I think that before all else I am a human being, just as much as you are—or at least I will try to become one."
— Henrik Ibsen (A Doll's House)