Arthur Dimmesdale

"We are all sinners, Hester. We are all sinners."

"Be true! Be true! Be true!"

"Believe me, Hester, there are none so agonized with inward torment."

"Thou knowest—thou hast long known it—that I am no evil man."

"What customs and manners demand is what we must do."

"Thou art not far from the truth, though thou speakest wrongly of it."

"We are all sinners here."

"That old man!—I pity him, even though he means me ill."

"Woman, woman, thou art accountable for this!—I cannot, I will not, be answerable for her deeds!"

"Heaven hath granted her an open ignominy, that thereby she may work out an open triumph."

"I do forgive you, Roger Chillingworth! May God forgive us both!"

"Is this not better than what we dreamed of in the forest?"

"Pity me!—Pity me!—Do not abandon me, though I am utterly unworthy!"

"Be true! Be true! Be true!"

"Show mercy to me!"

"My heart was fashioned to be broken."

"That old man!—if he still live—he has long since pined away beneath my ministrations."

"May God forgive us both!"

"Tell me, Hester—art thou sure that there is a man upon this earth to whom I may not confess all?"

"I am not, Hester, of the cold and remorseful order of penitents."

"How little have I to do with all that dreams of heaven and yearnings for eternity."

"Thou and I, Hester, never drew our breath in one stagnant air!"

"My old faith comes back to me, and explains all that we do, and all that we suffer."

"Better to die than to live as I have lived!"

"This woman's scarlet letter may open a dungeon where an angel sits imprisoned."

"That old man!—if thou really wilt help me in the struggle with him, I shall win!"

"She understands me better than I understand myself."

"Hadst thou sought vengeance, it had not been better for thy soul."

"The truth is, I have nothing of the saint about me."

"Be true! Be true! Be true!"