Quotes About Innocence

It is impossible to recapture innocence once it has been exposed for the illusion it is, she said. Illusion? He frowned. Why should innocence be more unreal, more untrue, than cynicism? I am not cynical, she said. But no, I could not go back.

I Know what you meant when you told me she was full of love and brimming over with it. And so innocent that one fears for her. Perhaps we ought not to fear for such people but for ourselves whose experience has taught us not to trust one another or life itself.

Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it

It is very well to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing.

The cunning devil has told her every unsavoury public scandal of his past life, but always in such a way as to make himself out to be an innocent martyr. She absolutely accepts his version and will listen to no other.

If the confidence of children can be gained, and they are led to speak freely, it is surprising how many claim to have seen fairies.

A dog likes people who pat him on the head. That's because his thinking isn't complicated by knowledge and education

So, now I've become such a big schoolmaster that my name is even mentioned in the newspapers. But I have remained a simple fellow who asks nothing of the world—only my youth is gone, the enchanting youth that walks forever on air.

It is impossible to reign innocently. Saint-Just

Every creative act involves... a new innocence of perception, liberated from the cataract of accepted belief.

If she is innocent! Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God's fingers? I'll tell you what's walking Salem—vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!

In an ordinary crime, how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses to prove his innocence. But witchcraft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature an invisible crime, is it not? The witch and the victim. None other. Now we cannot hope the witch will accuse herself; granted? Therefore, we must rely upon her victims - and they do testify, the children certainly do testify.

One time there was a girl. Her name was Jane. She was a little baby. And she had a blanket. It was a small blanket. It was pink, and soft, and warm. In the morning she woke up. And the first thing she did was to touch the blanket, and it felt soft and warm when she put her fingers on it. Jane loved her pink blanket.

Yes, the day the world ended and nobody was innocent again. God, how swiftly it all fell down!

PROCTOR: If she is innocent! Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God's fingers? I'll tell you what's walking Salem—vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! This warrant's vengeance! I'll not give my wife to vengeance!

The child is much nearer the vision of the self. We must become as little children before we can enter into the realm of truth. This is why we are required to put aside the sophistication of the learned. The need for being born again is insisted on. It is said that the wisdom of babes is greater than that of scholars. Sri

Genius is the recovery of childhood at will.

In early youth, as we contemplate our coming life, we are like children in a theatre before the curtain is raised, sitting there in high spirits and eagerly waiting for the play to begin. It is a blessing that we do not know what is really going to happen. Could we foresee it, there are times when children might seem like innocent prisoners, condemned, not to death, but to life, and as yet all unconscious of what their sentence means.

We are all innocent to begin with, and this merely means that neither we nor others know the evil of our own nature.

there are times when children might seem like innocent prisoners, condemned, not to death, but to life

The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There's no innocence. Either way, you're accountable.

Humbling was a nice word, Rahel thought. Humbling along without a care in the world.

L'enfance n'avait laissé sur eux aucune trace. Dépourvus de curiosité comme de doutes, ils étaient à leur manière terriblement adultes. (p.344)

People are tried and convicted in the newspapers and on television before they ever see a courtroom.