Nathaniel Hawthorne

"A work of fiction is a collaboration between writer and reader."

"The Puritans hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators."

"Sorrow is but a wall between two gardens."

"Nobody is ever quite straightforward in talking about his own sins."

"How little do we know about the thoughts and feelings of anyone!"

"That Scarlet Letter was my Puritan heritage."

"Keep your heart open to receive the influence of heaven."

"The truth of the human heart is one's most valuable possession."

"One thing has not changed: human nature."

"A piece of writing is never finished; it is only abandoned."

"The physician himself, if he would throw off the physician's gown, might feel all the tremor and palpitation of a human heart."

"Freedom is the soul's right to unfold itself."

"Life, for a time, is a school, and all the varied occurrences of it, lessons."

"Beautiful as it is rare to find constancy in a man."

"Death is nature's way of saying hello."

"There is no question what the roll of honor in America is. The roll of honor consists of the names of men who have squared their conduct by ideals of duty."

"The world is so full of different people that one learns to view one's neighbors at a great distance."

"We are never so anxious about others as when we are ashamed of ourselves."

"Kindness and cruelty are not opposites; they are closely related."

"The past is ever present with us."

"There is no private life left in America."

"Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds."

"The greatest thing we can do is to encourage one another to be great."

"When children cease to respect parents, old age loses all its honors."

"In the name of friendship, many evil deeds have been committed."

"An act of violence in a country keeps its soul alive."

"The most important thing any generation can do is to transmit to the next generation the values and ideals upon which a nation is founded."

"We are not happy unless we are doing something that matters."

"The greatest magic is simplicity."

"Men are not angels, but neither are they entirely evil."