How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The dullest specimen of humanity, when drawn by desire toward evil, is recalled by a sense of right, which is proportionate in power and strength to his evil tendency. We must remember that it may not be a knowledge of right, for no knowledge of right is predicated of the animal's instinctive recoil at evil. Men are still led by instinct before they are regulated by knowledge. (27.66)
Even "the dullest specimen of humanity" can do the right thing: three cheers for dull specimens of humanity. This is kind of an interesting idea that dull humans, like animals, instinctively resist evil. But the narrator's patronizing tone leaves a bit of a sour taste in our mouths.
Quote #5
At every first adventure, then, into some untried evil, the mind wavers. The clock of thought ticks out its wish and its denial. (27.67)
The clock is so totally apt an image here for expressing how Hurstwood ponders over whether to take the money from the safe. The clock's ticks are even, measured, and steady, just like the back-and-forth movement of his thoughts in that scene. Neither right nor wrong outweighs the other until the very last moment when the safe accidentally shuts.
Quote #6
For a truth, [Carrie] was rather shocked and frightened by this evidence of human depravity. He would have tricked her without turning an eyelash. She would have been led into a newer and worse situation. And yet she could not keep out the pictures of his looks and manners. Only this one deed seemed strange and miserable. It contrasted sharply with all she felt and knew
Carrie wonders who this Hurstwood guy really is as she grapples here with how incongruous his deceit is with the rest of her knowledge of him. The phrase "shocked and frightened" especially captures how disorienting the experience of finding out you don't know someone as well as you thought you knew them can be.