Henrik Ibsen - A Doll's House (1879)

19 Sourced Quotes

View all Henrik Ibsen Quotes
Rank.'Certainly. However wretched I may feel, I want to prolong the agony as long as possible.

Henrik Ibsen
I'm no longer prepared to accept what people say and what's written in books. I must think things out for myself, and try to find my own answer.

Henrik Ibsen
I am sticking as closely to my subject as I can; for my subject is precisely this, that it is the masses, the majority

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

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

Henrik Ibsen
If I'm ever to reach any understanding of myself and the things around me, I must learn to stand alone. That's why I can't stay here with you any longer.

Henrik Ibsen
Home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as it is founded on borrowing and debt.

Henrik Ibsen
I have another duty equally sacred... My duty to myself.

Henrik Ibsen
There is a big black hat and it makes you invisible. Have you heard of that hat? You put it on and then no one can see you.

Henrik Ibsen
Nora.'Look here, Doctor Rank - you know you want to live.

Henrik Ibsen
The black, cold, icy water. Down and down, without end — if it would only end.

Henrik Ibsen
I have other duties equally sacred … Duties to myself.

Henrik Ibsen
Our house has never been anything but a playroom. I have been your doll wife, just as at home I was Daddy's doll child. And the children in turn have been my dolls. I thought it was fun when you came and played with me, just as they thought it was fun when I went and played with them. That's been our marriage, Torvald.

Henrik Ibsen
Helmer: First and foremost, you are a wife and mother.
Nora: That I don't believe any more. I believe that first and foremost I am an individual, just as you are.

Henrik Ibsen
Many a man can save himself if he admits he's done wrong and takes his punishment.

Henrik Ibsen
I don't know whether you find also in your part of the world that there are certain people who go zealously snuffing about to smell out moral corruption, and, as soon as they have found some, put the person concerned into some lucrative position where they can keep their eye on him. Healthy natures are left out in the cold.

Henrik Ibsen
What's to become of the morally sound? Left out in the cold, I suppose. We must heal the sick.

Henrik Ibsen
But our home's been nothing but a playpen. I've been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa's doll-child. And in turn the children have been my dolls. I thought it fun when you played with me, just as they thought it fun when I played with them. That's been our marriage, Torvald.

Henrik Ibsen