Who said “Prudishness is pretense of innocence without innocence. Women have to remain prudish as…”?

Verified

Friedrich Schlegel. A published source records them saying or writing it.

Source“Selected Aphorisms from the Athenaeum (1798)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) #31

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“Prudishness is pretense of innocence without innocence. Women have to remain prudish as long as men are sentimental, dense, and evil enough to demand of them eternal innocence and lack of education. For innocence is the only thing which can ennoble lack of education.”
— Friedrich Schlegel
Verified“Selected Aphorisms from the Athenaeum (1798)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) #31 · evidenceInnocence

Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: “Selected Aphorisms from the Athenaeum (1798)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) #31.

APA

Schlegel, F. (n.d.). Prudishness is pretense of innocence without innocence. Women have to remain prudish as long as men are sentimental, dense, and evil enough to demand of them eternal innocence and lack of education. For innocence is the only thing which can ennoble lack of education. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/24219-prudishness-is-pretense-of-innocence-without-innocence-women/

MLA

Schlegel, Friedrich. “Prudishness is pretense of innocence without innocence. Women have to remain prudish as long as men are sentimental, dense, and evil enough to demand of them eternal innocence and lack of education. For innocence is the only thing which can ennoble lack of education.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/24219-prudishness-is-pretense-of-innocence-without-innocence-women/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Schlegel, Friedrich. “Prudishness is pretense of innocence without innocence. Women have to remain prudish as long as men are sentimental, dense, and evil enough to demand of them eternal innocence and lack of education. For innocence is the only thing which can ennoble lack of education.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/24219-prudishness-is-pretense-of-innocence-without-innocence-women/.

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“Innocence always calls mutely for protection when we would be so much wiser to guard ourselves against it: innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm.”
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“I know we're not saints or virgins or lunatics; we know all the lust and lavatory jokes, and most of the dirty people; we can catch buses and count our change and cross the roads and talk real sentences. But our innocence goes awfully deep, and our discreditable secret is that we don't know anything at all, and our horrid inner secret is that we don't care that we don't.”
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VerifiedLetter to Caitlin Macnamara, date unknown, cited as possibly late 1936 · evidenceDetails & citeInnocence

More quotes by Friedrich Schlegel

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