Quotation by

Nathaniel Hawthorne

In our nature, however, there is a provision, alike marvelous and merciful, that the sufferer should never know the intensity of what he endures by its present torture, but chiefly by the pang that rankles after it.

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Understanding this quote AI Analysis

Hawthorne is saying that people are naturally protected from fully feeling the worst part of their pain while it is happening. Instead, the deepest hurt comes afterward, as a lingering emotional wound that stays with the sufferer.

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More quotes about Nature

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And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

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I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.
All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind.
And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.