A Doll's House

by Henrik Ibsen

There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.

And besides, how painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything!

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.

Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a deceitful mother.

It’s too late.

HELMER. It’s too late. NORA. Yes, it’s too late. HELMER. My dear Nora, I can forgive the anxiety you are in, although really it is an insult to me. It is, indeed. Isn’t it an insult to think that I should be afraid of a starving quill-driver’s vengeance? But I forgive you, nevertheless, because it is such eloquent witness to your great love for me. (Takes her in his arms.) And that is as it should be, my own darling Nora. Come what will, you may be sure I shall have both courage and strength if they be needed. You will see I am man enough to take everything upon myself. NORA (in a horror-stricken voice). What do you mean by that? HELMER. Everything I say— NORA (recovering herself). You will never have to do that.

It is all up with me. And it can’t be helped.

NORA (gripping him by the arm). What have you found out? Doctor Rank, you must tell me. RANK (sitting down by the stove). It is all up with me. And it can’t be helped. NORA (with a sigh of relief). Is it about yourself? RANK. Who else? It is no use lying to one’s self. I am the most wretched of all my patients, Mrs. Helmer. Lately I have been taking stock of my internal economy. Bankrupt! Probably within a month I shall lie rotting in the church-yard. NORA. What an ugly thing to say! RANK. The thing itself is cursedly ugly, and the worst of it is that I shall hav e to face so much more that is ugly before that. I shall only make one more examination of myself; when I have done that, I shall know pretty certainly when it will be that the horrors of dissolution will begin. There is something I want to tell you. Helmer’s refined nature gives him an unconquerable disgust of everything that is ugly; I won’t have him in my sick-room. NORA. Oh, but, Doctor Rank— RANK. I won’t have him there. Not on any account. I bar my door to him. As soon as I am quite certain that the worst has come, I shall send you my card with a black cross on it, and then you will know that the loathsome end has begun.

It is sad that all these nice things should take their revenge on our bones.

RANK. Oh, it’s a mere laughing matter, the whole thing. My poor innocent spine has to suffer for my father’s youthful amusements. NORA (sitting at the table on the left). I suppose you mean that he was too partial to asparagus and pate de foie gras, don’t you? RANK. Yes, and to truffles. NORA. Truffles, yes. And oysters too, I suppose? RANK. Oysters, of course, that goes without saying. NORA. And heaps of port and champagne. It is sad that all these nice things should take their revenge on our bones. RANK. Especially that they should revenge themselves on the unlucky bones of those who have not had the satisfaction of enjoying them.

Those who are gone are soon forgotten.

RANK. It is a loss you would easily recover from. Those who are gone are soon forgotten.

Nora—do you think he is the only one—?

NORA. . . . You know how devotedly, how inexpressibly deeply Torvald loves me; he would never for a moment hesitate to give his life for me. RANK (leaning toward her). Nora—do you think he is the only one—? NORA (with a slight start). The only one—? RANK. The only one who would gladly give his life for your sake. NORA (sadly). Is that it? RANK. I was determined you should know it before I went away, and there will never be a better opportunity than this. Now you know it, Nora. And now you know, too, that you can trust me as you would trust no one else.

there are some people one loves best, and others whom one would almost always rather have as companions.

NORA. Yes—you see there are some people one loves best, and others whom one would almost always rather have as companions.

life has taught me not to believe in fine speeches.

This unhappy secret must be enclosed; they must have a complete understanding between them, which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on.

MRS. LINDE. No, Nils, you must not recall your letter. KROGSTAD. But, tell me, wasn’t it for that very purpose that you asked me to meet you here? MRS. LINDE. In my first moment of fright, it was. But twenty-four hours have elapsed since then, and in that time I have witnessed incredible things in this house. Helmer must know all about it. This unhappy secret must be enclosed; they must have a complete understanding between them, which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on.

An exit ought always to be effective, Mrs. Linde; but that is what I cannot make Nora understand.

You have still got the Tarantella in your blood, I see. And it makes you more captivating than ever.

one can’t have anything in this life without paying for it.

At the next fancy-dress ball I shall be invisible.

I should not be a man if this womanly helplessness did not just give you a double attractiveness in my eyes.

It seems as if that had made her, as it were, doubly his own; he has given her a new life, so to speak; and she is in a way become both wife and child to him.

You have never loved me. You have only thought it pleasant to be in love with me.

I have existed merely to perform tricks for you, Torvald. But you would have it so. You and papa have committed a great sin against me. It is your fault that I have made nothing of my life.

I must stand quite alone, if I am to understand myself and everything about me.

It gives me great pain, Torvald, for you have always been so kind to me, but I cannot help it. I do not love you any more.

NORA. It gives me great pain, Torvald, for you have always been so kind to me, but I cannot help it. I do not love you any more.

no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves.

HELMER. I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora—bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves. NORA. It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done.

The most wonderful thing of all—?