Hannah Webster Foster

Hannah Webster Foster (September 10, 1758/59 – April 17, 1840) was an American novelist. Her epistolary novel, The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton, was published anonymously in 1797. Although it sold well in the 1790s, it was not until 1866 that her name appeared on the title page. In 1798, she published The Boarding School; or, Lessons of a Preceptress to Her Pupils, a commentary on female education in the United States.

Quotes

The Coquette or, The History of Eliza Wharton (1797)

  • An unusual sensation possesses my breast — a sensation which I once thought could never pervade it on any occasion whatever. It is pleasure, pleasure, my dear Lucy, on leaving my paternal roof.
    • Letter 1
  • You ask me, my friend, whether I am in pursuit of truth, or a lady? I answer, both. I hope and trust they are united; and really expect to find truth and the virtues and graces besides in a fair form.
    • Letter 4
  • He is a gay man, my dear, to say no more; and such are the companions we wish when we join a party avowedly formed for pleasure.
    • Letter 6
  • The mind, after being confined at home for a while, sends the imagination abroad in quest of new treasures; and the body may as well accompany it.
    • Letter 6
  • Can you, who have always been used to serenity and order in a family, to rational, refined, and improving conversation, relinquish them, and launch into the whirlpool of frivolity, where the correct taste and the delicate sensibility which you possess must constantly be wounded by the frothy and illiberal sallies of licentious wit?
    • Letter 29
  • It is by surmounting difficulties, not by sinking under them, that we discover our fortitude. True courage consists not in flying from the storms of life; but in braving and steering through them with prudence. Avoid solitude. It is the bane of a disordered mind; though of great utility to a healthy one.
    • Letter 52
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