Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American fiction writer, best known for The Scarlet Letter. His other works include The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithesdale Romance, and Twice-Told Tales.
 

"It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object."

- The Scarlet Letter