Context

Nathaniel Hawthorne loves writing about adultery, contempt, mockery, betrayal, ostracism, banishment, death, and despair. But for someone who is decidedly a massive downer, he sure has some happy-dappy opinions about human nature.

This line comes about halfway through The Scarlet Letter and is a surprisingly upbeat angle on the question of whether mankind is created basically good or basically evil. We're dealing with a story in which our hero has wronged those she loves and has been wronged herself in return (big time). So you'd think that Hester's view of the situation—and by extension, Hawthorne's view—would be that people are basically scum and that they'll hurt and disappoint you at every opportunity.

Instead, there's a fleeting flash of optimism amidst all the negativity. It shows us that, despite all Hester's gone through, maybe she hasn't lost all hope in her fellow man (and woman).

Although…our author does make the disclaimer that, when selfishness enters the picture, everything else is a wash…and when is selfishness not in the picture?

Where you've heard it

The quote isn't super-well-known among the general public, but it does raise an interesting philosophical question and expresses it in a compelling way, so it's bound to pop up here and there in blogs and articles where the writers are getting all deep and profound.

Like in this poorly written high school essay (the second word is misspelled; like…come on) or in this tumblr or on this blog.

We found a few other examples, but we're going to keep them to ourselves. Yeah. We're selfish like that.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Stuff like "it is to the credit of" and "more readily than"…no one actually talks that way. Probably not even in Hawthorne's time. 

But…it makes us feel good inside, so we won't give it a 10.