--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I have always been astonished that women…" description: "\"I have always been astonished that women were allowed to enter churches. What conversation can they possibly have with God? The eternal Venus (caprice,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30a/charles-baudelaire-473_caprice_i-have-always-been-astonished-that-women_2193902.jpg" --- # I have always been astonished that women were allowed to… ![“I have always been astonished that women were allowed to enter churches. What conversation can they possibly have with God? The eternal Venus (caprice, hysteria, fantasy) is one of the seductive forms of the Devil.” quote by Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30a/charles-baudelaire-473_caprice_i-have-always-been-astonished-that-women_2193902.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30a/charles-baudelaire-473_caprice_i-have-always-been-astonished-that-women_2193902.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30a/charles-baudelaire-473_caprice_i-have-always-been-astonished-that-women_2193902.jpg) > “I have always been astonished that women were allowed to enter churches. What conversation can they possibly have with God? The eternal Venus (caprice, hysteria, fantasy) is one of the seductive forms of the Devil.” [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author questions women's presence in churches, linking it to seductive devilish fantasies. **In simple terms:** Women in churches seem contrary to divine conversation. Key Takeaway Critique gender norms in religious spaces. Themes gender religion feminism devil symbolism Mood critical historical Type social philosophical When to use this quote - church reforms - gender studies seminars - literary analysis Key Concepts theology social critique psychosexual dynamics Questions to Reflect On - How do modern perspectives reinterpret this view? - What impact does gender exclusion have on faith communities? A Different Perspective Reflects 19th‑century bias. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Caprice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caprice/) [Church](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/church/) [Conversation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conversation/) [Devil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/devil/) [Eternal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternal/) [Fantasy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fantasy/) [Hysteria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hysteria/) [Misogyny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misogyny/) [Seductive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seductive/) [Venus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/venus/) ## Related quotes > [I have cultivated my hysteria with delight and terror. Now I suffer continually from vertigo, and today, 23rd of January, 1862, I have received…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/i-have-cultivated-my-hysteria-with-delight-and-terror-now-i-suffer/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [I have cultivated my hysteria with pleasure and terror.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/i-have-cultivated-my-hysteria-with-pleasure-and-terror/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Angels will frequently - even when they're comforting us with good news - touch the awe of God's eternal presence and drive us to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scot-mcknight/angels-will-frequently-even-when-they-re-comforting-us-with-good-news/) [Scot McKnight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scot-mcknight/) > [What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we have in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-i-packer/what-were-we-made-for-to-know-god-what-aim-should-we-have-in-life-to/) [J. I. Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-i-packer/) > [God's eternal laws are kind-and break the heart of stone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/god-s-eternal-laws-are-kind-and-break-the-heart-of-stone/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [I don't think of God as an old white man with no belly button, nor even an old black woman with no belly button.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/i-don-t-think-of-god-as-an-old-white-man-with-no-belly-button-nor/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [This Church is true. It will weather every storm that beats against it. It will outlast every critic who rises to mock it. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-b-hinckley/this-church-is-true-it-will-weather-every-storm-that-beats-against-it/) [Gordon B. Hinckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-b-hinckley/) > [We need not join the mad rush to purchase an earthly fallout shelter. God is our eternal fallout shelter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr-2/we-need-not-join-the-mad-rush-to-purchase-an-earthly-fallout-shelter/) [Martin Luther King Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr-2/) > [God's eternal plan has always been to display his glory not just through individuals but through a corporate body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-dever/god-s-eternal-plan-has-always-been-to-display-his-glory-not-just/) [Mark Dever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-dever/) > [“The Might God, Eternal Father.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/the-might-god-eternal-father/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [Sin must be within God's eternal decrees in some sense in which He is not the author of it . . . We must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-oliver-buswell/sin-must-be-within-god-s-eternal-decrees-in-some-sense-in-which-he-is/) J. Oliver Buswell > [Your problems are temporary but God is eternal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/myah/your-problems-are-temporary-but-god-is-eternal/) [Myah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/myah/) > [“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-the-wages-of-sin-is-death-but-the-free-gift-of-god-is-eternal/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Like white light refracted through a prism and split into many colors, God's eternal love-nature, expressed through the prism of time, becomes God's multicolored…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kreeft/like-white-light-refracted-through-a-prism-and-split-into-many-colors/) [Peter Kreeft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kreeft/) > [“The gift of God is grace. The grace of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/the-gift-of-god-is-grace-the-grace-of-god-is-eternal-life-in-christ/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) ## More by Charles Baudelaire > [Who would dare assign to art the sterile function of imitating nature?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/who-would-dare-assign-to-art-the-sterile-function-of-imitating-nature/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”—Charles Baudelaire “The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/the-greatest-trick-the-devil-ever-pulled-was-convincing-the-world-he/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“This life is a hospital in which each patient is possessed by the desire to change beds. One wants to suffer in front of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/this-life-is-a-hospital-in-which-each-patient-is-possessed-by-the/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [There is no such thing as a long piece of work, except one that you dare not start.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-long-piece-of-work-except-one-that-you/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/our-religion-is-itself-profoundly-sad-a-religion-of-universal-anguish/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [But the true voyagers are only those who leave Just to be leaving; hearts light, like balloons, They never turn aside from their fatality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/but-the-true-voyagers-are-only-those-who-leave-just-to-be-leaving/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Amer savoir, celui qu'on tire du voyage! Bitter is the knowledge gained in travelling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/amer-savoir-celui-qu-on-tire-du-voyage-bitter-is-the-knowledge-gained/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“Car je cherche le vide, el le noir, el le nu!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/car-je-cherche-le-vide-el-le-noir-el-le-nu/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“I can barely conceive a type of beauty in which there is no melancholy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/i-can-barely-conceive-a-type-of-beauty-in-which-there-is-no-melancholy/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [The vices of man, as full of horror as one might suppose them to be, contain the proof (if in nothing else but their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/the-vices-of-man-as-full-of-horror-as-one-might-suppose-them-to-be/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Multitude, solitude: equal and interchangeable terms for the active and prolific poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/multitude-solitude-equal-and-interchangeable-terms-for-the-active-and/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Any healthy man can go without food for two days - but not without poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/any-healthy-man-can-go-without-food-for-two-days-but-not-without/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Drink wine, drink poetry, drink virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/drink-wine-drink-poetry-drink-virtue/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Man loves man so much that when he flees the city, it is still to seek the crowd, that is, to rebuild the city…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/man-loves-man-so-much-that-when-he-flees-the-city-it-is-still-to-seek/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“—But why is she weeping? She, the perfect beauty, Who could put at her feet the conquered human race, What secret malady gnaws at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/but-why-is-she-weeping-she-the-perfect-beauty-who-could-put-at-her/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) [Explore all 454 Charles Baudelaire quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) ## More Caprice quotes > [In the indications of female poverty there can be no disguise. No woman dresses below herself from caprice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/in-the-indications-of-female-poverty-there-can-be-no-disguise-no/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the fates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-k-rowling-2/talent-and-intelligence-never-yet-inoculated-anyone-against-the/) [J. K. Rowling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-k-rowling-2/) > [Our fascination with weather: its caprices and changes as an antidote to the eternal repetition of daily life; a helpful illusion of novelty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derren-brown/our-fascination-with-weather-its-caprices-and-changes-as-an-antidote/) [Derren Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derren-brown/) > [I see nothing quite conclusive in the art of temporal government, But violence, duplicity and frequent malversation. King rules or barons rule: The strong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-smiles/i-see-nothing-quite-conclusive-in-the-art-of-temporal-government-but/) [Samuel Smiles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-smiles/) > [A caprice is handled like a stew, and the pepper is added at the last minute.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachilde/a-caprice-is-handled-like-a-stew-and-the-pepper-is-added-at-the-last/) [Rachilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachilde/) > [When faced with demanding situations, can you keep your heart as light as a feather? Can you laugh your way through challenges and maintain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/when-faced-with-demanding-situations-can-you-keep-your-heart-as-light/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [Travel is a caprice in childhood, a passion in youth, a necessity in manhood, and an elegy in old age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jos-rizal/travel-is-a-caprice-in-childhood-a-passion-in-youth-a-necessity-in/) [Jose Rizal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jos-rizal/) > [Broken lines do not know what they want. With their caprices they cut time up, abuse routes, slash the joyous flowers and split the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-crevel/broken-lines-do-not-know-what-they-want-with-their-caprices-they-cut/) [Rene Crevel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-crevel/) > [Dame Edna is that rarest sighting in our time of the absolute comic, an inspired personification of caprice whose comedy answered the primal call…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lahr/dame-edna-is-that-rarest-sighting-in-our-time-of-the-absolute-comic/) [John Lahr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lahr/) > [The great merit of gold is precisely that it is scarce; that its quantity is limited by nature; that it is costly to discover,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hazlitt/the-great-merit-of-gold-is-precisely-that-it-is-scarce-that-its/) [Henry Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hazlitt/) > [Caprice, independence and rebellion, which are opposed to the social order, are essential to the good health of an ethnic group. We shall measure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/caprice-independence-and-rebellion-which-are-opposed-to-the-social/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [Caprice in women often infringes upon the rules of decency.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/caprice-in-women-often-infringes-upon-the-rules-of-decency/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [I love you boosie baltimore m.d caprice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lil-boosie/i-love-you-boosie-baltimore-m-d-caprice/) [Lil Boosie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lil-boosie/) > [Caprice is half man. There is something manly about her.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-bacon/caprice-is-half-man-there-is-something-manly-about-her/) [Richard Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-bacon/) > [For the writer, the serial killer is, abstractly, an analogue of the imagination's caprices and amorality; the sense that, no matter the dictates and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/for-the-writer-the-serial-killer-is-abstractly-an-analogue-of-the/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) [Browse all 110 Caprice quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caprice/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I have always been astonished that women were allowed to enter churches. What conversation can they possibly have with God? 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