Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804-May 19, 1864) was an American author and poet.
He became famous through his novel, The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850.
He was a friend of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States.
Other well-known works of his include: The House of Seven Gables, Twice-Told Tales, Blithedale Romance and Mosses from an Old Manse.
In his poem, The Star of Calvary, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote:
<It is the same infrequent star,
The all mysterious light,
That, like a watcher gazing on
The changes of the night,
Toward the hill of Bethlehem, took
Its solitary flight.
It is the same infrequent star;
Its sameness startleth me;
Although the disk is red a-blood
And downward silently
It looketh on another hill,
The hill of Calvary.
Behold, O Israel! behold!
It is no human One
That ye have dared to crucify.
What evil hath he done?
It is your King, O Israel,
The God-begotten Son!> 1804NH001
In Ethan Brand, written in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote:
<"What is the Unpardonable Sin?" asked the lime-burner....
"It is a sin that grew within my own breast," replied Ethan Brand...."The sin of an intellect that triumphed over the sense of brotherhood with man and reverence for God."> 1804NH002
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1804NH001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Star of Calvary. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, Oregon: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), p. 221-2.
1804NH002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850, in Ethan Brand. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 503.