There is no instance, in all history, of the human will and intellect having perfected any great moral reform by methods which it adapted to that end; but the progress of the world, at every step, leaves some evil or wrong on the path behind it, which the wisest of mankind, of their own set purpose, could never have found the way to rectify.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne Quotes

It is singular, however, how long a time often passes before words embody things; and with what security two persons, who choose to avoid a certain subject, may approach its very verge, and retire without disturbing it.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

The truth seems to be, however, that, when he casts his leaves forth upon the wind, the author addresses, not the many who will fling aside his volume, or never take it up, but the few who will understand him, better than most of his schoolmates or lifemates.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

All such professors of the several branches of jocularity would have been sternly repressed, not only by the rigid discipline of law, but by the general sentiment which give law its vitality.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

Thus the world assumed another and a better aspect from the hour that the poet blessed it with his happy eyes. The Creator had bestowed him, as the last best touch to his own handiwork. Creation was not finished till the poet came to interpret, and so complete it.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

But I never considered it as other than a transitory life.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

There is no instance, in all history, of the human will and intellect having perfected any great moral reform by methods which it adapted to that end; but the progress of the world, at every step, leaves some evil or wrong on the path behind it, which the wisest of mankind, of their own set purpose, could never have found the way to rectify.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

There is something so massive, stable, and almost irresistibly imposing in the exterior presentment of established rank and great possessions that their very existence seems to give them a right to exist; at least, so excellent a counterfeit of right, that few poor and humble men have moral force enough to question it, even in their secret minds.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

I said, but now, that there could be no good event for him, or thee, or me, who are here wandering together in this gloomy maze of evil, and stumbling, at every step, over the guilt wherewith we have strewn our path.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

By thy first step awry thou didst plant the germ of evil; but since that moment, it has all been a dark necessity. Ye that have wronged me are not sinful, save in a kind of typical illusion; neither am I fiend-like, who have snatched a fiend’s office from his hands. It is our fate. Let the black flower blossom as it may!

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

In my own behalf, I rejoice that I could once think better of the world’s improvability than it deserved. It is a mistake into which men seldom fall twice in a lifetime;.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

A little parallelogram of sky was all that she had hitherto known of nature, so that she felt the awfulness that really exists in its limitless extent.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

She seeks to place herself above the sympathies of our common nature, which envelopes all human souls. See if that nature do not assert its claim over her in some mode that shall bring her level with the lowest!

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

Not a stitch in that embroidered letter, but she has felt it in her heart.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

The tendency of her fate and fortunes had been to set her free. The.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

A bachelor always feels himself defrauded, when he knows or suspects that any woman of his acquaintance has given herself away.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

Burlacul se simte-ntotdeauna tras pe sfoara cand stie, sau banuieste, ca vreuna din femeile pe care le cunoaste s-a deconspirat singura.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

A trait si-a iubit si asta face si acum! In trandafirul asta de-o frumusete perfecta nu mai e nici o petala nedeschisa, nici o picatura de roua pe care n-au vazut-o razele soarelui.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

It is perilous to make a chasm in human affections; not that they gape so long and wide – but so quickly close again!

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

There can be no outrage, methinks, against our common nature – whatever be the delinquencies of the individual – no outrage more flagrant than to forbid the culprit to hide his face for shame; as it was the essence of this punishment to do.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne
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