Date: 1758

"It is more necessary for the Soul to be cured, than the Body: for it is better to die, than to live ill."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1758

"In all Vice, Pleasure being presented like a Bait, draws sensual Minds to the Hook of Perdition."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1758

"Such a one is the Person, who ought to be publicly lamented, for the Misfortunes into which he is fallen: not, by Heaven, either he who is born or dies; but he, whom it hath befallen while he lives to lose what is properly his own: not his paternal Possessions, his paultry Estate, or his House, ...

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"Yet, when by Fancy’s Influence unconfin’d, / Does Wisdom give my throbbing Bosom Laws? / Do calmer Thoughts compose my ruffled Mind?"

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: w. 1739, 1762

"Come Melancholy! silent Pow'r, / Companion of my lonely Hour, / To sober thought confin'd: / Thou sweetly-sad ideal Guest, / In all thy soothing Charms confest, / Indulge my pensive Mind."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: w. 1739, 1762

"Ye pale Inhabitants of Night, / Before my intellectual Sight / In solemn Pomp ascend."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: w. 1739, 1762

"Ye faithless Idols of our Sense, / Here own how vain your fond Pretence, / Ye empty Names of Joy!"

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: w. 1739, 1762

Melancholy's "transient Forms like Shadows pass, / Frail Offspring of the magic Glass, / Before the mental Eye."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: w. 1739, 1762

"Thro' Reason's clearer Optics view'd, / How stript of all it's Pomp, how rude / Appears the painted Cheat."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"Yet, if too soon this transient Pleasure fly, / A Charm more lasting shall the Loss supply: / While Harmony, with each attractive Grace, / Plays in the fair Proportions of her Face; / Where each soft Air, engaging and serene, / Beats Measure to the well-tun'd Mind within."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)