Henrik Ibsen (1828 – 1906)
Norwegian playwright who was largely responsible for the rise of the modern realistic drama.
The black, cold, icy water. Down and down, without end — if it would only end.
That power which circumstances placed in my hands, and which is an emanation of divinity, I am conscious of having used to the best of my skill. I have never wittingly wronged any one. For this campaign there were good and sufficient reasons; and if some should think that I have not fulfilled all expectations, they ought in justice to reflect that there is a mysterious power without us, which in a great measure governs the issue of human undertakings.
Really to sin you have to be serious about it.
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.
Castles in the air — they are so easy to take refuge in. And so easy to build, too.
Many a man can save himself if he admits he's done wrong and takes his punishment.
The younger generation will come knocking at my door.
Always do that, wild ducks do. They shoot to the bottom as deep as they can get, sir — and bite themselves fast in the tangle and seaweed — and all the devil's own mess that grows down there. And they never come up again.
What's to become of the morally sound? Left out in the cold, I suppose. We must heal the sick.
A marriage based on full confidence, based on complete and unqualified frankness on both sides; they are not keeping anything back; there's no deception underneath it all. If I might so put it, it's an agreement for the mutual forgiveness of sin.
Back he'll come...With vine leaves in his hair. Flushed and confident.
There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.
The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom — these are the pillars of society.
You don't get nothing for nothing in this life.
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.
People who don't know how to keep themselves healthy ought to have the decency to get themselves buried, and not waste time about it.
An unromantic poem I mean to make
Of one who only lives for duty's sake.
I have other duties equally sacred ... Duties to myself.
Everything I touch seems destined to turn into something mean and farcical.
There are three Empires. First there is the Empire which was founded on the tree of knowledge. Then there is the Empire founded on the tree of the Cross. The third is still a secret Empire which will be founded on the tree of knowledge and the tree of the Cross — brought together.