The Scarlet Letter

"Behold, I am not! If that be thy sole objection, I may yet be of service."

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

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

"Better to starve with man by thy side than to fatten thyself alone!"

"Keep, therefore, the secret, as thou keepest thy religion."

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

"God keep you from the traffic of a fiend."

"Among all who have offended, you alone have sinned most!"

"We are all sinners here."

"I will not speak, and my child shall not speak, unless thou givest consent."

"Why does he keep his hand upon his heart?"

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

"Be careful, for he watches thee, as he watches all."

"Thou art not evil!—yet I had deemed thee other than this."

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

"I have left thee to the scarlet letter. If that have not avenged me, I can do no more."

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

"My child, the God who hath led me hither will show me light and guidance."

"Let the black flower blossom as it may!"

"Hadst thou sought vengeance, it had not been thus."

"Thou hast just pleaded passionately for thy child; canst thou not do the same for the father of thy child?"

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

"I am not, nor have ever been, otherwise than what you see me."

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

"Thou and I are not of the world; let us therefore leave the matter as it then stood."

"Be true! Be true! Be true!"

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