Quotation by

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Good

Understanding this quote AI Analysis

Words by themselves seem harmless and weak, like just entries in a dictionary. However, when someone skilled arranges them thoughtfully, they can have a strong impact, either positive or negative.

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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.

If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.