Susanna Rowson

thumb| Susanna Rowson (née Haswell; 1762 – 2 March 1824) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, religious writer, stage actress, and educator. She was the first woman geographer and an early supporter of female education. She also wrote against slavery. Rowson was the author of the 1791 novel Charlotte Temple, the most popular best-seller in American literature until Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was published serially in 1851–1852, and authored the first human geography textbook Rowson's Abridgement of Universal Geography in 1805. Quotes Wealth and titles, which were sure to be heaped on the hero or heroine of the tale at last, she considered as the ultimatum of all sublunary good. Lucy Temple (1828), ch. 3 Charlotte Temple (ed. 1814) Originally titled Charlotte, A Tale of Truth (1791) ... she had on a blue bonnet, and with a pair of lovely eyes of the same color, has contrived to make me feel devilish odd about the heart. ch. 1 The mind of youth eagerly catches at promised pleasure: pure and innocent by nature, it thinks not of the dangers lurking beneath those pleasures, till too late to avoid them. ch. 6 Oh my dear girls, for to such only am I writing, listen not to the voice of love, unless sanctioned by paternal approbation; be assured it is now past the days of romance. ch. 6 Of all the pleasures of which the human mind is sensible, there is none equal to that which warms and expands the bosom, when listening to commendations bestowed on us by a beloved object, and are conscious of having deserved them. ch. 8 Pleasure is a vain illusion; she draws you on to a thousand follies, errors, and I may say vices, and then leaves you to deplore your thoughtless credulity. ch. 8 The very basis of true peace of mind is a benevolent wish to see all the world as happy as one's Self; and from my soul do I pity the selfish churl, who, remembering the little bickerings of anger, envy, and fifty other disagreeables to which frail mortality is subject, would wish to revenge the affront which pride whispers him he has received. ch. 8 ... my boys, with only moderate incomes, when placed in the church, at the bar, or in the field, may exert their talents, make themselves friends, and raise their fortunes on the basis of merit. ch. 10 ... while discretion points out the impropriety of my conduct, inclination urges me on to ruin. ch. 11 ... the heart that is truly virtuous is ever inclined to pity and forgive the errors of its fellow creatures. ch. 20 External links H. L. Mencken (ed.) A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles (ed. 1960), p. 1185 Category:1762 births Category:1824 deaths Category:Novelists from Massachusetts Category:Playwrights from the United States Category:19th-century poets from the United States Category:Geographers from the United States Category:Women born before the 19th century Category:Women authors from the United States Category:Poets from Massachusetts