Named source · 1863

The Water-Babies Quotes by Charles Kingsley: Context & Meanings

1 quotation linked to The Water-Babies by or associated with Charles Kingsley, with source notes, explanations and related topics.

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Charles Kingsley’s 1863 Victorian moral fantasy The Water-Babies

Topics and ideas

Moral transformation, cleanliness imagery, childhood, religion, social criticism, fantasy and Victorian arguments about education and development.

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Those that wish to be clean, clean they will be; and those that wish to be foul, foul they will be.

Image design Golden Hour

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“Those that wish to be clean, clean they will be; and those that wish to be foul, foul they will be.”

Charles Kingsley

Voice: Fictional character · Irishwoman

Meaning & context

The fairy-tale warning connects desired moral change with the direction a person repeatedly chooses, while the surrounding story makes that lesson part of Tom’s larger transformation.

Source details

The Water-Babies, represented by Project Gutenberg #1018. Tom recalls the mysterious Irishwoman’s warning while half asleep. The cleanliness language participates in Kingsley’s Victorian Christian moral fantasy and is not a scientific claim about character or hygiene.

Charles Kingsley’s 1863 Victorian moral fantasy The Water-Babies

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