--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I shall do better amongst other faces…" description: "\"“I shall do better amongst other faces; and these familiar ones, it need hardly be said, will do just as well without me.”\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/970/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_familiar_i-shall-do-better-amongst-other-faces-an_2590189.jpg" --- # I shall do better amongst other faces; and these familiar… ![“I shall do better amongst other faces; and these familiar ones, it need hardly be said, will do just as well without me.” quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/970/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_familiar_i-shall-do-better-amongst-other-faces-an_2590189.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/970/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_familiar_i-shall-do-better-amongst-other-faces-an_2590189.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/970/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_familiar_i-shall-do-better-amongst-other-faces-an_2590189.jpg) > ““I shall do better amongst other faces; and these familiar ones, it need hardly be said, will do just as well without me.”” [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker suggests that others can succeed without them, implying humility and confidence in the group's capability. **In simple terms:** Others can thrive without me. Key Takeaway Trust others' abilities. Themes humility confidence teamwork Mood thoughtful humble Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - leadership - collaboration - personal growth Key Concepts literature self‑reflection Questions to Reflect On - When have you felt replaceable? - How do you balance humility with contribution? A Different Perspective May underestimate personal impact. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Better Faces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-faces-1853116/) [Faces Familiar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faces-familiar-392091/) [Familiar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/familiar/) [Familiar Ones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/familiar-ones-1853117/) [Shall Better](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shall-better-884798/) ## Related quotes > [It's always fun to see faces that are either familiar or resemble yours. I was fascinated by movies like 'Big Trouble in Little China'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ng-chin-han/it-s-always-fun-to-see-faces-that-are-either-familiar-or-resemble/) [Ng Chin Han](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ng-chin-han/) > [I have seen better faces in my time Than stands on any shoulder that I see Before me at this instant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/i-have-seen-better-faces-in-my-time-than-stands-on-any-shoulder-that/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“Our lives shall be better if, we heed to the pure words of God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/our-lives-shall-be-better-if-we-heed-to-the-pure-words-of-god/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [It is better - it shall be better with me because I have known you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-is-better-it-shall-be-better-with-me-because-i-have-known-you/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [A girl that sits to my left convinces me that all shall get better if you let the bad leave and the positive arrive,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/collin-mitchell/a-girl-that-sits-to-my-left-convinces-me-that-all-shall-get-better-if/) [Collin Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/collin-mitchell/) > [If I have said something to hurt a man once, I shall not get the better of this by saying many things to please…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/if-i-have-said-something-to-hurt-a-man-once-i-shall-not-get-the/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [We shall be better, braver, and more active if we believe it right to look for what we don't know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/we-shall-be-better-braver-and-more-active-if-we-believe-it-right-to/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [I shall be better satisfied if the same can be said of me as was said of the prophet of old, "That I walked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-rush/i-shall-be-better-satisfied-if-the-same-can-be-said-of-me-as-was-said/) [Benjamin Rush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-rush/) > [“Love me as I am, sweet one, for I shall never be better.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gaskell/love-me-as-i-am-sweet-one-for-i-shall-never-be-better/) [Elizabeth Gaskell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gaskell/) > [When we know our own strength, we shall the better know what to undertake with hopes of success.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-locke/when-we-know-our-own-strength-we-shall-the-better-know-what-to/) [John Locke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-locke/) > [I know I am at the end. I shall never get better, dear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillie-langtry/i-know-i-am-at-the-end-i-shall-never-get-better-dear/) [Lillie Langtry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillie-langtry/) > [“But that we shall be better and braver and less helpless if we think that we ought to enquire, than we should have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/but-that-we-shall-be-better-and-braver-and-less-helpless-if-we-think/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [...one thing I am ready to fight for as long as I can, in word and act: that is, that we shall be better,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/one-thing-i-am-ready-to-fight-for-as-long-as-i-can-in-word-and-act/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [“If we heed to laws of Holy Bible, our lives shall be better.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/if-we-heed-to-laws-of-holy-bible-our-lives-shall-be-better/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it... She stood apart from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/in-all-her-intercourse-with-society-however-there-was-nothing-that/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## More by Nathaniel Hawthorne > [“there was something of the women molded into the great, stalwart frame of Hollingsworth; nor was he ashamed of it; as men often are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/there-was-something-of-the-women-molded-into-the-great-stalwart-frame/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [The trees reflected in the river - they are unconscious of a spiritual world so near to them. So are we.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-trees-reflected-in-the-river-they-are-unconscious-of-a-spiritual/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“The dismaying thing about the classic totalitarian mind is that any given gear, though mutilated, will have at its circumference unbroken sequences of teeth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-dismaying-thing-about-the-classic-totalitarian-mind-is-that-any/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire, I longed to kindle one!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/my-heart-was-a-habitation-large-enough-for-many-guests-but-lonely-and/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [Wherever there is a heart and an intellect, the diseases of the physical frame are tinged with the peculiarities of these.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/wherever-there-is-a-heart-and-an-intellect-the-diseases-of-the/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-founders-of-a-new-colony-whatever-utopia-of-human-virtue-and/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [Generosity is the flower of justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/generosity-is-the-flower-of-justice/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“he seemed to be in quest for mental food, not heart sustenance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/he-seemed-to-be-in-quest-for-mental-food-not-heart-sustenance/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“Unfathomable to mere mortals is the lore of fiends.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/unfathomable-to-mere-mortals-is-the-lore-of-fiends/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“Possibly, he was in a state of second growth and recovery, and was constantly assimilating nutriment for his spirit and intellect from sights, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/possibly-he-was-in-a-state-of-second-growth-and-recovery-and-was/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“What wonder, then, should we be frightened by the aspect of a monster, which, after all,—though we can point to every feature of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/what-wonder-then-should-we-be-frightened-by-the-aspect-of-a-monster/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [As the architecture of a country always follows the earliest structures, American architecture should be a refinement of the log-house. The Egyptian is so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/as-the-architecture-of-a-country-always-follows-the-earliest/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [What we call real estate - the solid ground to build a house on - is the broad foundation on which nearly all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/what-we-call-real-estate-the-solid-ground-to-build-a-house-on-is-the/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“The bookworm of great libraries.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-bookworm-of-great-libraries/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [There are many things in this world that a child must not ask about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/there-are-many-things-in-this-world-that-a-child-must-not-ask-about/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) [Explore all 526 Nathaniel Hawthorne quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## More Familiar quotes > [ There was another reason \[she\] took her books whenever they went away. They were her home when she was somewhere strange. They were familiar… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornelia-funke/there-was-another-reason-she-took-her-books-whenever-they-went-away/) [Cornelia Funke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornelia-funke/) > [It's a very familiar type of place where people either go to their house on the lake or they get together in different places.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-carell/it-s-a-very-familiar-type-of-place-where-people-either-go-to-their/) [Steve Carell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-carell/) > [Photography's potential as a great image-maker and communicator is really no different from the same potential in the best poetry where familiar, everyday words,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-caponigro/photography-s-potential-as-a-great-image-maker-and-communicator-is/) [Paul Caponigro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-caponigro/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/meanwhile-the-trees-were-just-as-green-as-before-the-birds-sang-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [This kind of horror has become all too familiar to us. As parents, Cindy and I offer our prayers to the memory of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mccain/this-kind-of-horror-has-become-all-too-familiar-to-us-as-parents/) [John McCain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mccain/) > [Any creative process is about being in a territory which isn't secure, isn't necessarily familiar, and isn't convenient in any sort of way. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanne-bier/any-creative-process-is-about-being-in-a-territory-which-isn-t-secure/) [Susanne Bier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanne-bier/) > [By the time they were pulling into the parking lot of the A&P, the mood was fading, the moment gone. Amy could feel it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-strout/by-the-time-they-were-pulling-into-the-parking-lot-of-the-a-p-the/) [Elizabeth Strout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-strout/) > [I don't look to play people that are familiar. I look to play people that are different, challenge, unknown, foreign, and therefore scary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-jessica-parker/i-don-t-look-to-play-people-that-are-familiar-i-look-to-play-people/) [Sarah Jessica Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-jessica-parker/) > [My pet peeve is hearing a knock on the bathroom door followed by the familiar words, 'What are you doing in there?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-scalf-linamen/my-pet-peeve-is-hearing-a-knock-on-the-bathroom-door-followed-by-the/) [Karen Scalf Linamen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-scalf-linamen/) > [The barman sidled toward them out of a back room. He was a grump-looking old man with a great deal of a long gray…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-barman-sidled-toward-them-out-of-a-back-room-he-was-a-grump/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Television is a thing that people get very familiar with. They want to hear your voice in their head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damon-wayans-jr/television-is-a-thing-that-people-get-very-familiar-with-they-want-to/) [Damon Wayans, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damon-wayans-jr/) > [It's truly gratifying to see my films reach beyond a familiar public, to get a chance to move new audiences. It's nuts. It's extraordinary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-audiard/it-s-truly-gratifying-to-see-my-films-reach-beyond-a-familiar-public/) [Jacques Audiard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-audiard/) > [When I was in high school, I was a bad singer. I mean, all my early acting was musical theater, and my first ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-claflin/when-i-was-in-high-school-i-was-a-bad-singer-i-mean-all-my-early/) [Sam Claflin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-claflin/) > [Fella’s a genius. Best ever by a distance in my life time. Never really saw Pele… Souness, Gullit, Venables and now Rooney agree Messi…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-lineker/fella-s-a-genius-best-ever-by-a-distance-in-my-life-time-never-really/) [Gary Lineker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-lineker/) > [Sometimes all it takes is a tiny shift of perspective to see something familiar in a totally new light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-brown/sometimes-all-it-takes-is-a-tiny-shift-of-perspective-to-see/) [Dan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-brown/) [Browse all 1,916 Familiar quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/familiar/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I shall do better amongst other faces; and these familiar ones, it need hardly be said, will do just as well without me.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Nathaniel Hawthorne" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/i-shall-do-better-amongst-other-faces-and-these-familiar-ones-it-need/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Familiar" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/i-shall-do-better-amongst-other-faces-and-these-familiar-ones-it-need/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/970/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_familiar_i-shall-do-better-amongst-other-faces-an_2590189.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/970/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_familiar_i-shall-do-better-amongst-other-faces-an_2590189.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/970/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_familiar_i-shall-do-better-amongst-other-faces-an_2590189.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I shall do better amongst other faces; and these familiar ones, it need hardly be said, will do just as well…” — Nathaniel Hawthorne", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Nathaniel Hawthorne", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“I shall do better amongst other...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/i-shall-do-better-amongst-other-faces-and-these-familiar-ones-it-need/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/i-shall-do-better-amongst-other-faces-and-these-familiar-ones-it-need/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```