The Scarlet Letter

"Thou and I are not of the world's people."

"I can endure it all."

"Show me the woman,—I shall know her!"

"Dost thou see yonder child? She is flesh of thy flesh."

"That old man!—I hate him! Yet he hateth me!"

"Thou and I, Hester, never played our parts in the world's stage."

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

"Be true! Be true! Be true!"

"Thou hast kept the secret, and I now release thee."

"Better to die than to live and not to know."

"Come away, or yonder old man will catch you!"

"I am not of the order of Providence."

"God is merciful. Let us not despair."

"Pity me!—pity us both!"

"That old man's revenge has been blacker than my sin."

"Thou wilt not reveal his name? Not outwardly, nor in action?"

"I am a coward in this matter."

"Art thou like the Black Man that haunts the forest?"

"Let the black flower blossom as it may."

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

"It may be that the torment of my daily existence is a fitting retribution."

"Shame, Despair, Solitude! Yet I am not the less a man."

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

"Be true! Be true! Be true!"

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

"Evil has been my nature; shall I not have cause to fear that evil will be my destiny?"

"Thou art not true!"

"I cannot forgive myself for having lived thus long."

"Better never to have known a moment's peace than to feel the gnawing of an evil conscience."

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