Talk:Nathaniel Hawthorne

Here's one, not sure where to put it: "America is now wholly given over to a damned mob of scribbling women, and I should have no chance of success while the public taste is occupied with their trash--and should be ashamed of myself if I did succeed. What is the mystery of this innumerable editions of the 'Lamplighter,' and other books neither better nor worse?--worse they could not be, and better they need not be, when they sell by the 100,000." - from Nelson, Randy F. (editor). The Almanac of American Letters. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 146. ISBN 086576008X

Since the quote does not name the original source, the best thing to do would be to look for the source on Google or Google Book Search. After doing so, I found that it was in a letter dated January 19, 1855 to Hawthorne's publisher, William D. Ticknor (as seen here, for example). I'll go ahead and add it in the appropriate chronological place. - InvisibleSun 23:59, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Unsourced

• Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

Hawthorne Quote in 'The Departed'

In the movie 'The Departed', one of the characters attributes the quote "families are always rising and falling in America" to Hawthorne. I've seen this quoted in several other places with no references. It doesn't appear to be a real quote of Hawthorne's; can anybody confirm? If so it would be a good additional to the misattributed section; I can't find any documentation that this is indeed a fake quote anywhere. Drewma2k (talk) 13:16, 24 April 2023 (UTC)