The Unspeakable Misery of a Life So False as His That It Is Impalpable

The only truth that continued to give mister dimmesdale a real existence on this earth was the anguish in his inmost soul and the undissembled expression of it in his aspect. Had he once found power to smile and wear a face of gaiety, there would have been no such man. It is the unspeakable misery of a life so false as his that it steals the pith and substance out of whatever realities there are around us. The whole universe is false. It is impalpable. It shrinks to nothing within his grasp. But for athat they were, in one sense, the truest and most substantial things which the poor minister now dealt with