In every American there is an air of incorrigible innocence, which seems to conceal a diabolical cunning.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Innocence is a pretty dangerous thing, you know. Revisit Dostoevsky's 'The Idiot' or, for that matter, Greene's 'The Quiet American' to find out how destructive it can be.
Innocence most often is a good fortune and not a virtue.
Innocence as we understand it in our culture is very theatrical. The flip side is, if you're charming enough, you can get away with anything.
It's innocence when it charms us, ignorance when it doesn't.
To vice, innocence must always seem only a superior kind of chicanery.
Innocence is thought charming because it offers delightful possibilities for exploitation.
Look, if America - if being an American means anything, it means not having to lie under oath, not even for the president.
There are a lot of things to get seduced by in America.
Innocence is not virtue. Virtue demands the active employment of an ardent mind in the promotion of the general good. No man can be eminently virtuous who is not accustomed to an extensive range of reflection.
We are often deterred from crime by the disgrace of others.
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