A Doll’s House quotes
The lines readers remember from A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen.
19 quotes · About the book
Standout lines
There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.
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That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing.
There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.
We two have kept bravely on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short time longer that there need be any struggle.
I only feel my life unspeakably empty. No one to live for anymore.
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No, indeed;
I only feel my life unspeakably empty. No one to live for anymore.
Gets up restlessly. That was why I could not stand the life in my little backwater any longer. I hope it may be easier here to find something which will busy me and occupy my thoughts.
The worst of a position like mine is that it makes one so bitter.
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Going up to her. It is you that must not be angry with me, dear.
The worst of a position like mine is that it makes one so bitter.
No one to work for, and yet obliged to be always on the lookout for chances. One must live, and so one becomes selfish.
Is it imprudent to save your husband’s life?
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Sits up straight.
Is it imprudent to save your husband’s life?
It seems to me imprudent, without his knowledge, to—
Many a time I was desperately tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man.
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Well, then I have found other ways of earning money. Last winter I was lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do; so I locked myself up and sat writing every evening until quite late at night.
Many a time I was desperately tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man.
How much have you been able to pay off in that way?
Because such an atmosphere of lies infects and poisons the whole life of a home.
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And about the children—that is the most terrible part of it all, Nora.
Because such an atmosphere of lies infects and poisons the whole life of a home.
Each breath the children take in such a house is full of the germs of evil.
All quotes
Act I
There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.
Show the passage
That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing.
There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.
We two have kept bravely on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short time longer that there need be any struggle.
I only feel my life unspeakably empty. No one to live for anymore.
Show the passage
No, indeed;
I only feel my life unspeakably empty. No one to live for anymore.
Gets up restlessly. That was why I could not stand the life in my little backwater any longer. I hope it may be easier here to find something which will busy me and occupy my thoughts.
The worst of a position like mine is that it makes one so bitter.
Show the passage
Going up to her. It is you that must not be angry with me, dear.
The worst of a position like mine is that it makes one so bitter.
No one to work for, and yet obliged to be always on the lookout for chances. One must live, and so one becomes selfish.
Is it imprudent to save your husband’s life?
Show the passage
Sits up straight.
Is it imprudent to save your husband’s life?
It seems to me imprudent, without his knowledge, to—
Many a time I was desperately tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man.
Show the passage
Well, then I have found other ways of earning money. Last winter I was lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do; so I locked myself up and sat writing every evening until quite late at night.
Many a time I was desperately tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man.
How much have you been able to pay off in that way?
Oh, it’s a wonderful thing to be alive and be happy.
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And, think of it, soon the spring will come and the big blue sky! Perhaps we shall be able to take a little trip—perhaps I shall see the sea again!
Oh, it’s a wonderful thing to be alive and be happy.
A bell is heard in the hall.
That is the sentiment that is turning Society into a sick house.
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Shrugging his shoulders. Yes, there you are.
That is the sentiment that is turning Society into a sick house.
Nora, who has been absorbed in her thoughts, breaks out into smothered laughter and claps her hands.
The law cares nothing about motives.
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You? Do you ask me to believe that you were brave enough to run a risk to save your wife’s life?
The law cares nothing about motives.
Then it must be a very foolish law.
Then it must be a very foolish law.
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The law cares nothing about motives.
Then it must be a very foolish law.
Foolish or not, it is the law by which you will be judged, if I produce this paper in court.
Is a daughter not to be allowed to spare her dying father anxiety and care? Is a wife not to be allowed to save her husband’s life?
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I don’t believe it.
Is a daughter not to be allowed to spare her dying father anxiety and care? Is a wife not to be allowed to save her husband’s life?
I don’t know much about law; but I am certain that there must be laws permitting such things as that. Have you no knowledge of such laws—you who are a lawyer? You must be a very poor lawyer, Mr. Krogstad.
Because such an atmosphere of lies infects and poisons the whole life of a home.
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And about the children—that is the most terrible part of it all, Nora.
Because such an atmosphere of lies infects and poisons the whole life of a home.
Each breath the children take in such a house is full of the germs of evil.
Act II
Those who are gone are soon forgotten.
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It is a loss you would easily recover from.
Those who are gone are soon forgotten.
Looking at him anxiously. Do you believe that?
Have you forgotten that it is I who have the keeping of your reputation?
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Afterwards? When I am no longer—
Have you forgotten that it is I who have the keeping of your reputation?
Nora stands speechlessly looking at him. Well, now, I have warned you. Do not do anything foolish. When Helmer has had my letter, I shall expect a message from him.
Act III
When I lost you, it was as if all the solid ground went from under my feet.
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More gently.
When I lost you, it was as if all the solid ground went from under my feet.
Look at me now—I am a shipwrecked man clinging to a bit of wreckage.
Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people could join forces?
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There was no other choice—then.
Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people could join forces?
Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better chance than each on their own.
Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better chance than each on their own.
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Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people could join forces?
Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better chance than each on their own.
What do you suppose brought me to town?
Nils, give me someone and something to work for.
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But now I am quite alone in the world—my life is so dreadfully empty and I feel so forsaken. There is not the least pleasure in working for one’s self.
Nils, give me someone and something to work for.
I don’t trust that. It is nothing but a woman’s overstrained sense of generosity that prompts you to make such an offer of yourself.
Nils, a woman who has once sold herself for another’s sake, doesn’t do it a second time.
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With a searching look at her. Is that what it all means?—that you want to save your friend at any cost? Tell me frankly. Is that it?
Nils, a woman who has once sold herself for another’s sake, doesn’t do it a second time.
I will ask for my letter back.
Oh well, one can’t have anything in this life without paying for it.
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I think so too, so long as you don’t have to pay for it in the morning.
Oh well, one can’t have anything in this life without paying for it.
Doctor Rank—are you fond of fancy-dress balls?
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