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Nathaniel Hawthorne Quotes

Novelist

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist known for his Gothic novels and romantic works. His writings often delve into themes of morality and sin, influenced by his family history and Puritan background.

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All Men Heart May Ifs World Humans Love Scarlet Needs Literature People Should Dream Sin Book Spirit Evil Long Moments Writing

Famous Nathaniel Hawthorne Quotes

“It is a little remarkable, that - though disinclined to talk overmuch of myself and my affairs at the fireside, and to my personal friends - an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life have taken possession of me, in addressing the public.”

Should Littles Book Taken Affair Possession Impulse Remarkable

Book:CliffsComplete The Scarlet Letter

Source: CliffsComplete The Scarlet Letter

“America is now wholly given over to a d--d mob of scribbling women, and I should have no chance of success while the public taste is occupied with their trash - and should be ashamed of myself if I did succeed. What is the mystery of these innumerable editions of the Lamplighter, and other books neither better nor worse? - worse they could not be, and better they need not be, when they sell by 100,000.”

Ifs Needs Should Book America Given Chance Mystery Taste Succeed Should Have Sells Ashamed Trash

Book:The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings

Source: The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings

“A long time ago, in a town with which I used to be familiarly acquainted, there dwelt an elderly person of grim aspect, known by the name and title of Doctor Grimshawe, whose household consisted of a remarkably pretty and vivacious boy, and a perfect rosebud of a girl, two or three years younger than he, and an old maid of all work, of strangely mixed breed, crusty in temper and wonderfully sluttish in attire.”

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Illustrated)

“In an ancient though not very populous settlement, in a retired corner of one of the New England states, arise the walls of a seminary of learning, which, for the convenience of a name, shall be entitled "Harley College.”

Book States Names College Wall England Ancient Corners Arise Entitled Retired Convenience Settlement New England Seminary Harley

Book:Complete Novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Illustrated Edition): Fanshawe, The Scarlet Letter with its Adaptation, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, The Marble Faun, The Dolliver Romance, Septimius Felton, Grimshawe's Secret and Biography

Source: Complete Novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Illustrated Edition): Fanshawe, The Scarlet Letter with its Adaptation, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, The Marble Faun, The Dolliver Romance, Septimius Felton, Grimshawe's Secret and Biography

“It was a day in early spring; and as that sweet, genial time of year and atmosphere calls out tender greenness from the ground,--beautiful flowers, or leaves that look beautiful because so long unseen under the snow and decay,--so the pleasant air and warmth had called out three young people, who sat on a sunny hill-side enjoying the warm day and one another.”

Source: The Complete Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Novels, Short Stories, Poems, Essays, Letters and Memoirs (Illustrated): The Scarlet Letter with its Adaptation, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, Tanglewood Tales, Birthmark, Ghost of Doctor Harris… (Including Biographies and Literary Criticism)

“The evening before my departure for Blithedale, I was returning to my bachelor-apartments, after attending the wonderful exhibition of the Veiled Lady, when an elderly-man of rather shabby appearance met me in an obscure part of the street.”

Men Book Wonderful Streets Mets Appearance Evening Apartment Obscure Elderly Departure Attending Exhibitions Bachelors Shabby

Book:The Blithedale Romance

Source: The Blithedale Romance

“A throng of bearded men in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and other bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.”

Men Book Doors Fronts Hats Iron Gray Garments Hood Oaks Edifice Steeples

Book:The Scarlet Letter

Source: The Scarlet Letter

“It will startle you to see what slaves we are to by-gone times-to Death, if we give the matter the right word! ... We read in Dead Men's books! We laugh at Dead Men's jokes, and cry at Dead Men's pathos! . . . Whatever we seek to do, of our own free motion, a Dead Man's icy hand obstructs us!”

Ifs Men Giving Book Matter Hands Laughing Gone Cry Jokes Slave Dead Man Icy Right Words Pathos Gone Time

Author:Nathaniel Hawthorne

“We men of study, whose heads are in our books, have need to be straightly looked after! We dream in our waking moments, and walk in our sleep.”

Men Needs Book Moments Dream Sleep Walks Study Waking

Author:Nathaniel Hawthorne

“The book, if you would see anything in it, requires to be read in the clear, brown, twilight atmosphere in which it was written; if opened in the sunshine, it is apt to look exceedingly like a volume of blank pages.”

Ifs Looks Book Clear Written Pages Atmosphere Brown Sunshine Twilight Volume Blank Blank Pages

Book:The Portable Hawthorne

Source: The Portable Hawthorne

“Pleasant is a rainy winter's day, within doors! The best study for such a day, or the best amusement,—call it which you will,—is a book of travels, describing scenes the most unlike that sombre one”

Book Study Doors Scene Winter Pleasant Amusement Describing Rainy

Book:Tales and sketches

Source: Tales and sketches

“Articulate words are a harsh clamor and dissonance. When man arrives at his highest perfection, he will again be dumb.”

Men Book Reading Highest Perfection Dumb Harsh Book Reading Clamor Dissonance

Book:Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Letters, Diaries, Reminiscences and Extensive Biographies: Autobiographical Writings of the Renowned American Novelist, Author of

Source: Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Letters, Diaries, Reminiscences and Extensive Biographies: Autobiographical Writings of the Renowned American Novelist, Author of

“A writer of story books! What kind of business in life-what mode of glorifying God, or being serviceable to mankind in his day and generation-may that be? Why, the degenerate fellow might as well have been a fiddler!”

Wells Kind May Has Beens Book Stories Might Generations Mankind Fellows Degenerates Fiddlers Story Book Glorifying God

Book:The Scarlet Letter

Source: The Scarlet Letter