312 quotes by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), American (Novelist)

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Horace Mann

If he makes out Pierce to be either a brave or a great man, then it will be the greatest work of fiction he ever wrote.

On Nathaniel Hawthorne’s campaign biography of Franklin Pierce: Pierce had enlisted one of the great American novelists to write a short biography for his Presidential campaign.

The Atlantic

We are again compelled to interfere with our friend's license of personal description and criticism. Even Cabinet Ministers (to whom the next few pages of the articles were devoted) have their private immunities, which ought to be conscientiously observed

This quotation appeared in the middle of an 1862 article on the Civil War written by the great writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne. The article had been mailed to the Atlantic Monthly editors in New York from Washington. There were a number of pages of descriptions of specific Cabinet Members and other politicians, their understanding of the issues in the war, and a description of how they spent their time, At the time, it was common for partisan newspapers and magazines to attack politicians of the other party. But the Atlantic, only 5 years old then was a very rare American publication. It was totally non partisan, artistic and literary as well as concerned with current and political events. It only ran articles of serious, (some argued elite) writers. Hawthorn’s material on the politicians was not very complimentary and would have been regarded by them and their supporters as a political attack. So the editors deleted the material that referred negatively to individuals, Their apology was as much to the author, Hawthorne—“our friend”—as it was to the readers. At the time, the New York Times, also non partisan, refrained from serious negative material about politicians and celebrities. This quotation shows us the journalistic and literary standards of the “better” publications of the time. To this day, even when running negative articles about politicians and celebrities, these publications will never use the extreme and sensational language of the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Post, the National Inquirer, and many other “tabloid” type publications.

Popular Quotes

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Families are always rising and falling in America.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Genius, indeed, melts many ages into one, and thus effects something permanent, yet still with a similarity of office to that of the more ephemeral writer. A work of genius is but the newspaper of a century, or perchance of a hundred centuries.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Death was too definite an object to be wished for or avoided.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Death is so genuine a fact that it excludes falsehoods, or betrays its emptiness; it is a touchstone that proves the gold, and dishonors the baser metal.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

When Nature gives a young man no other utilizable faculty, she must be understood as intending him for a soldier.

This quotation is a wonderful illustration of the change that has taken place in the American military. The young man who was not skilled enough for anything else was meant to be a soldier. By 2010 only one in four high school graduates would be skilled and intelligent to be qualified for the Untied States Navy. The other services also had high requirements in order to function with the high technology, of the modern military.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

What we call real estate--the solid ground to build a house on--is the broad foundation on which nearly all the guilt of this world rests.

Essentially whereas many property owners have paid for their ownership in recent times, almost all real estate, wherever it is, that is privately owned was at some time in the past obtained by force, fraud, deceit, from someone else. In most cases, the owners who were killed, defrauded or otherwise removed from their land, had previously killed, defrauded or otherwise removed owners before them. There is almost no guilt untainted land. This was not just a product of capitalism, but has been a factor in every ism that has governed human society.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

I shall not pretend to be an admirer of old John Brown any farther than sympathy with Whittier's excellent ballad about him may go; nor did I expect ever to shrink so unutterably from any apothegm of a sage, whose happy lips have uttered a hundred golden sentences, as from that saying, (perhaps falsely attributed to so honored a source,) that the death of this blood-stained fanatic has "made the Gallows as venerable as the Cross!" Nobody was ever more justly hanged. He won his martyrdom fairly, and took it firmly.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Caresses, expressions of one sort or another, are necessary to the life of the affections as leaves are to the life of a tree. If they are wholly restrained, love will die at the roots.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Accuracy is the twin brother of honesty; inaccuracy, of dishonesty.

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About the Author

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Born: July 4, 1804
Died: May 19, 1864
Nationality: American
Profession: Novelist

Biography

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist, dark romantic, and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.

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NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE