--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In Victorian England, people were told…" description: "\"In Victorian England, people were told they should discourage their wives from reading because it would lead them into all sorts of devilish wickedness..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/290/marion-bailey-76892_because_in-victorian-england-people-were-told-th_1192039.jpg" --- # In Victorian England, people were told they should… ![“In Victorian England, people were told they should discourage their wives from reading because it would lead them into all sorts of devilish wickedness.” quote by Marion Bailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/290/marion-bailey-76892_because_in-victorian-england-people-were-told-th_1192039.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/290/marion-bailey-76892_because_in-victorian-england-people-were-told-th_1192039.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/290/marion-bailey-76892_because_in-victorian-england-people-were-told-th_1192039.jpg) > “In Victorian England, people were told they should discourage their wives from reading because it would lead them into all sorts of devilish wickedness.” Marion Bailey ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Society warned women that reading could corrupt them, reflecting patriarchal control over female education and morality. **In simple terms:** Reading was seen as dangerous for women. Key Takeaway Question education and autonomy. Themes gender education control morality censorship Mood defensive restrictive Type historical social commentary When to use this quote - Marriage counseling - school curricula - parental guidance - women's clubs - literacy campaigns Key Concepts Patriarchy social conformity fear of empowerment Questions to Reflect On - How did restricting reading affect women's roles? - What alternatives did women find to learn? A Different Perspective Such warnings ignored women's intellectual curiosity and contributed to gender inequality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Devilish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/devilish/) [England](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/england/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading/) [Victorian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/victorian/) [Wickedness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wickedness/) [Wives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wives/) ## Related quotes > [Like sex in Victorian England, the reality of Big Business today is our big dirty secret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-nader/like-sex-in-victorian-england-the-reality-of-big-business-today-is/) [Ralph Nader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-nader/) > [“The term railway was to Victorian England what atomic or aerodynamic were to be after World War II, and network and virtual are today.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-bookstaber/the-term-railway-was-to-victorian-england-what-atomic-or-aerodynamic/) [Richard Bookstaber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-bookstaber/) > [People always imagine that the whole of Victorian England was sitting around reading Alice in Wonderland - in fact only a tiny minority ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-rosen/people-always-imagine-that-the-whole-of-victorian-england-was-sitting/) [Michael Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-rosen/) > [In California we froze property taxes, school size increased, test scores declined, and there was a massive middle-class white flight to private schools. 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And wander I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/yet-there-was-always-in-me-even-when-i-was-very-small-the-sense-that/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Then years back, when I moved to California, I happened to see a book about fashions of 19th-century Victorian England, only four pages of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/then-years-back-when-i-moved-to-california-i-happened-to-see-a-book/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Man is still by instinct a predatory animal given to devilish aggression. The discoveries of science have immensely increased productivity of material things. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-hoover/man-is-still-by-instinct-a-predatory-animal-given-to-devilish/) [Herbert Hoover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-hoover/) > [Blessed be those happy ages that were strangers to the dreadful fury of these devilish instruments of artillery, whose inventor I am satisfied is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-de-cervantes/blessed-be-those-happy-ages-that-were-strangers-to-the-dreadful-fury/) [Miguel de Cervantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-de-cervantes/) > [That devilish Iron Horse, whose ear-rending neigh is heard throughout the town, has muddied the Boiling Spring with his foot, and he it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/that-devilish-iron-horse-whose-ear-rending-neigh-is-heard-throughout/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) ## More by Marion Bailey > [It's more acceptable for guys to get old and craggy and become wonderful character actors as they get older, but women aren't allowed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marion-bailey/it-s-more-acceptable-for-guys-to-get-old-and-craggy-and-become/) Marion Bailey > [Georgian England was very radical; there were all these new revolutionary ideas, and I think women had more freedom than they did later on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marion-bailey/georgian-england-was-very-radical-there-were-all-these-new/) Marion Bailey Explore all 3 Marion Bailey quotes ## More Because quotes > [One is a painter because one wants so-called freedom; one doesn't want to go to the office every morning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/one-is-a-painter-because-one-wants-so-called-freedom-one-doesn-t-want/) [Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/) > [I gave my archive to Emory University because there's a really dear friend who teaches there, Rudolph Byrd, and he's the editor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-walker/i-gave-my-archive-to-emory-university-because-there-s-a-really-dear/) [Alice Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-walker/) > [Because of the womb being a central phenomenon in the feminine body, the whole psychology of woman differs: she is non-aggressive, non-inquiring, non-questioning, non-doubting,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/because-of-the-womb-being-a-central-phenomenon-in-the-feminine-body/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [I love casting against type and doing things you wouldn't expect, because I think you get more interesting performances that way. 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