The Scarlet Letter

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

"We have wronged each other,—she and I,—deeply, deeply!"

"Dost thou feel, then, so little interest in the child's welfare?"

"The past is gone! Wherefore should we linger upon it now?"

"She may serve you when you come to your reckoning!"

"Thou lovest the child, then, so fiercely? Even when she was but a few days old?"

"Art thou sure that there is such a Black Man? And if there be one, why, and under what circumstances, did the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale so earnestly conjure me to beware of him?"

"I will not lose the child! Speak not of it!"

"Wouldst thou avenge thyself on the innocent babe?"

"It may be that there are other tortures in this unquiet world of ours. None has been so grievous as I have undergone."

"Distrust thyself! I had almost said, 'Despair thyself!'"

"Keep, therefore, the secret, as thou valuest thy peace and thy salvation!"

"Dost thou see yon child? It is thine,—thine own image."

"Come away, mother! Come away, or yonder old Black Man will catch you!"

"Believe me, Hester, there are none in this world whom I have inward respect for as I have for thee."

"It is too late! He is with his evil elf!"

"My heart was frozen!"

"Thy Creator made thee capable of better things than thou canst presently conceive."

"Thou shalt not go out from this door!"

"I am not of Adam's seed, nor am I thine!"

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

"Of penance I have had enough. Of penitence too, I had enough!"

"It has taught me—it is teaching me—lessons whereof my child may be the wiser."

"Thou wilt not reveal his secret then?"

"Better to die once, than to live in this anguish forever."

"I have a sympathy and fellowship with all that vibrate with kindred emotions."

"Wouldst thou avenge thyself on the innocent babe?"

"He hath denied me; he hath cast me off!"

"What if the forest whisper of what thou dost in the darkness?"

"I am not of that order."