Quote #13

How slowly I have made my way in life! How much is still to be done! How little worth - outwardly speaking - is all that I have achieved! The bubble reputation is as much a bubble in literature as in war, and I should not be one whit the happier if mine were world-wide and time-long than I was when nobody but yourself had faith in me. The only sensible ends of literature are, first, the pleasurable toil of writing; second, the gratification of one's family and friends; and, lastly, the solid cash.

More from Nathaniel Hawthorne

  1. The book, if you would see anything in it, requires to be read in the clear, brown, twilight atmosphere in which it was written; if opened …
  2. When the Artist rises high enough to achieve the Beautiful, the symbol by which he makes it perceptible to mortal senses becomes of little …
  3. 'What is the Unpardonable Sin?' asked the lime-burner; and then he shrank farther from his companion, trembling lest his question should be…
  4. The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may not be going to prove one's self a fool; the truest heroism is, to resis…
  5. She poured out the liquid music of her voice to quench the thirst of his spirit.
  6. It is because the spirit is inestimable that the lifeless body is so little valued.
  7. Our Creator would never have made such lovely days, and have given us the deep hearts to enjoy them, above and beyond all thought, unless w…
  8. In youth men are apt to write more wisely than they really know or feel; and the remainder of life may be not idly spent in realizing and c…

All Nathaniel Hawthorne quotes