Hester Prynne

"I am not to be within the scope of man's ordinances"

"Temptation hath been beforehand with us"

"Thy Heavenly Father sendeth it!"

"We have wronged each other"

"What we did had a consecration of its own."

"My little Pearl was not only alive, but likewise to be loved."

"Shall we not be united again?"

"Wouldst thou avenge thyself on the innocent babe?"

"There is virtue in any suffering if thou canst acquire it!"

"I am alone in the world—and Pearl is with me!"

"Thou and I have been the victims of thy sin."

"Didst thou suppose that I came hither to torture thee?"

"There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of thy pain."

"I choose to remain in this place, and to abide my sentence."

"Thou knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love."

"Thou hast great elements. Peradventure, hadst thou met earlier with a better love than mine, this evil had not been."

"Art thou like the Black Man that haunts the forest round about us?"

"I may have wronged him—I may have done him worse wrong than he ever did me!"

"A woman never overcomes these problems by her own strength."

"What we did had a consecration of its own."

"Thou hast kept the secret too well!"

"Thy mother is yonder woman with the scarlet letter."

"Dost thou see yonder child?"

"Keep, therefore, the secret, as thou valuest thy life!"

"Out of those entangled meshes, I am come to a kind of peace."

"Let the black flower blossom as it may!"

"Thou must dwell in thy own soul, till thou learn better."

"The past is gone; why should it bind us forever?"

"What we did had a consecration of its own."

"Thou art not evil!—yet Pearl is none the less here."