A Doll's House Quotes

Quote 1: "Nora, Nora! Just like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that sort of thing. No debts, no borrowing. There's something constrained, something ugly even, about a home that's founded on borrowing and debt." Act 1, pg. 149

Quote 2: "It's a sweet little bird, but it gets through a terrible amount of money. You wouldn't believe how much it costs a man when he's got a little song-bird like you!" Act 1, pg. 151

Quote 3: "Torvald has his pride - most men have - he'd be terribly hurt and humiliated if he thought he'd owed anything to me. It'd spoil everything between us, and our lovely happy home would never be the same again." Act 1, pg. 161

Quote 4: "Still it was tremendous fun sitting there working and earning money. It was almost like being a man." Act 1, pg. 162

Quote 5: "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." Act 1, pg. 175-176

Quote 6: "Because an atmosphere of lies like that infects and poisons the whole life of a home. In a house like that, every breath that the children take is filled with the germs of evil." Act 1, pg. 179

Quote 7: "Look, Nora, in lots of things, you're still a child. I'm older than you in many ways and I've had a little more experience." Act 2, pg. 184

Quote 8: "'If your squirrel were to ask you very prettily for something...'
'Your squirrel will scamper about and do all her tricks, if you'll be nice and do what she asks...'
'Your skylark'll sing all over the house - up and down the scale...'
'I'll be a fairy and dance on a moonbeam for you...'" Act 2, pg. 187

Quote 9: "Are you happy now? There - there - there - don't look like a frightened little dove - the whole thing's just sheer imagination. Now, you must rehearse your tarantella - with the tambourine. I'll go sit in the inner room and shut the doors, so you can make all the noise you like - I shan't hear a thing." Act 2, pg. 190

Quote 10: "I promised myself that I'd tell you before I went away, and I could never have a better opportunity. Well, Nora, now you know. And you know, too, that you can trust me - more than anyone else." Act 2, pg. 194

Quote 11: "Yes, now you've been warned, so don't do anything stupid. I shall expect to hear from Helmer as soon as he gets my letter. And remember, it's your husband who's forced me to do this sort of thing again. I shall never forgive him for that." Act 2, pg. 200

Quote 12: "Nora, darling, you're dancing as if your life depended on it!" Act 2, pg. 204

Quote 13: "When I lost you, it was just as if the very ground had given way under my feet. Look at me now - a shipwrecked man clinging to a spar." Act 3, pg. 208

Quote 14: "Nils, when you've sold yourself once for the sake of others, you don't do it a second time." Act 3, pg. 210

Quote 15: "But now a whole day's gone by and I've witnessed things in this house that I could hardly believe. Helmer must know the whole story. This wretched secret must be brought into the open so that there's complete understanding between them. That's be impossible while there's so much concealment and subterfuge." Act 3, pg. 211

Quote 16: "'Mayn't I look at my dearest treasure? At all the beauty that belongs to no one but me - that's all my very own?'...
'I'll tell you something: when I'm out with you at a party, do you know why I hardly talk to you - don't come near you - only steal a glance at you every now and then...do you know why? It's because I pretend that we're secretly in love - engaged in secret - and that no one dreams that there's anything between us.'" Act 3, pg. 215

Quote 17: "Nora, now that you and I have no one but each other. Oh, my darling, I feel as if I can't hold you close enough. You know, Nora, I've often wished that you could be threatened by some imminent danger so that I could risk everything I had - even my own life itself - to save you." Act 3, pg. 219

Quote 18: "What a terrible awakening! For these last eight years you've been my joy and my pride - and now I find that you're a liar, a hypocrite - even worse - a criminal! Oh, the unspeakable ugliness of it all! Ugh! I might have known that something of this sort would happen - I should have forseen it. All your father's shiftless character - Be Quiet! - All your father's shiftless character has come out in you. No religion, no morality, no sense of duty...So this is what I get for condoning his fault! I did it for your sake, and this is how you repay me! Act 3, pg. 220-221

Quote 19: "How you must have suffered - seeing no way out except...No, we'll put all those hateful things out of our minds. Now we can shout for joy, again and again: 'It's all over - it's all over! Listen, Nora - you don't seem to realize - it's all over. What's the matter? Such a grim face? Poor little Nora, I see what it is: you simply can't believe that I've forgiven you. But, I have, Nora, I swear it - I've forgiven you everything. I know now that what you did was all for love of me. Act 3, pg. 223

Quote 20: "But you don't talk or think like the man I could bind myself to. When your first panic was over - not about what threatened me, but about what might happen to you - and when there was no more danger, then, as far as you were concerned, it was just as if nothing had happened at all. I was simply your little songbird, your doll, and from now on you would handle it more gently than ever because it was so delicate and fragile. [Rising] At that moment, Torvald, I realized that for eight years I'd been living her with a strange man and that I'd borne him three children. Oh, I can't bear to think of it - I could tear myself to little pieces!" Act 3, pg. 230