Quotes from Nathaniel Hawthorne

T]hey reached the dwelling of Governor Bellingham...now moss-grown, crumbling to decay, and melancholy at heart with the many sorrowful or joyful occurrences, remembered or forgotten, that have happened, and passed away, within their dusky chambers. Then, however, there was the freshness of the passing year on its exterior, and the cheerfulness, gleaming forth from the sunny windows, of a human habitation into which death had never entered.

Thus from beneath the black veil there rolled a cloud into the sunshine, an ambiguity of sin or sorrow, which enveloped the poor minister, so that love or sympathy could never reach him.

distil drops of bitterness into her heart; sometimes through that alchemy of quiet malice, by which women can concoct a subtle poison from ordinary trifles; and sometimes, also, by a coarser expression, that fell upon the sufferer's defenceless breast like a rough blow upon an ulcerated wound.

A tendency to speculation, though it may keep woman quiet, as it does man, yet makes her sad. She discerns, it may be, such a hopeless task before her.

Calm, gentle, passionless as he appeared, there was yet, we fear, a quiet depth of malice, hitherto latent, but active now, in this unfortunate old man, which led him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever wreaked upon an enemy.

Let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart.

Nobody has any conscience about adding to the improbabilities of a marvelous tale.

Yet those same bleared optics had a strange, penetrating power, when it was their owner's purpose to read the human soul.

The truth seems to be, however, that the mother-forest, and these wild things which it nourished, all recognised a kindred wilderness in the human child.

As the life and good fame of yonder man were in your hands there seemed no choice to me, save to be silent in accordance with your behest. Yet it was not without heavy misgivings that I thus bound myself, for, having cast off all duty towards other human beings, there remained a duty towards him

My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire, I longed to kindle one!

Love, whether newly-born, or aroused from a death-like slumber, must always create a sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.

Podría ser que viviese una vida más real en su fuero interno que en el ambiente tan ingrato de la oficina del administrador. Las evocaciones del desfile, el tumulto de la batalla, las melodías de viejas músicas heroicas, escuchadas treinta años atrás, tales escenas y ecos estaban aún vivos en su recuerdo.

Woman, I could wellnigh pity thee! said Roger Chillingworth, unable to restrain a thrill of admiration too; for there was a quality almost majestic in the despair which she expressed. Thou hadst great elements. Peradventure, hadst thou met earlier with a better love than mine, this evil had not been. I pity thee, for the good that has been wasted in thy nature!

I want my happiness! . . . Many, many years have I waited for it! It is late! It is late! I want my happiness!

The days of the far off future would toil onward, still with the same burden for her to take up and bear along with her but never to fling down; for the accumulating days, and added years would pile up their misery upon the heap of shame

It was not painful to behold this look; for, though dim, it had not the imbecility of decaying age.

Possibly, some cynic, at once merry and bitter, had desired to signify, in this pantomimic scene, that we mortals, whatever our business or amusement--however serious, however trifling--all dance to one identical tune, and, in spite of our ridiculous activity, bring nothing finally to pass.

Es de gran importancia para la salud moral e intelectual de un hombre tener por compañeros otros hombres distintos a él, que no se interesen por sus ocupaciones, y que para conocer sus capacidades y saber en qué círculos se mueven le sea preciso salirse de sí mismo.

Gott hat mir das Kind gegeben!, schrie sie. Er gab es mir als Ausgleich für alles, was ihr mir genommen habt! Sie ist meine Freude!- sie ist auch meine Qual! Pearl hält mich in diesem Leben. Und Pearl bestraft mich. Seht ihr nicht, sie ist der Scharlachbuchstabe, imstande nur, geliebt zu werden, und darum millionenfach ausgestattet mit der Macht, mich für meine Sünden zu bestrafen. Ihr werdet sie mir nicht nehmen! Eher sterbe ich!

Mother, said little Pearl, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it.

Had they taken her from me, I would willingly have gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man's book too, and that with mine own blood!

Brooding over all these matters, the mother felt like one who has evoked a spirit, but, by some irregularity in the process of conjuration, has failed to win the master-word that should control this new and incomprehensible intelligence.

evil is the nature of mankind.