Innocence Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old innocence quotes, innocence sayings, and innocence proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Innocence is the weakest defense. Innocence has a single voice that can only say over and over again, I didn't do it. Guilt has a thousand voices, all of them lies. Leonard F. Peltier
The knowledge that makes us cherish innocence makes innocence unattainable. Irving Howe
It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. William Blackstone
Once you start asking questions, innocence is gone. Mary Astor
Innocence tinctures all things with brightest hues. Edward Counsel
Always the innocent are the first victims. So it has been for ages past, so it is now. J. K. Rowling
Innocence eroded into nightmare. All because of very bad touch. Love, corrupted. Ellen Hopkins
It takes a very long time to become young. Pablo Picasso
Innocence is a kind of insanity. Graham Greene
The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool. Stephen King
When we take revenge against another, we lose some of our innocence. Patrice Redd Vecchione
We each begin in innocence. We all become guilty. Leonard F. Peltier
The most sophisticated people I know inside they are all children. Jim Henson
We've let the blade of our innocence dull over time, and it's only in innocence that you find any kind of magic, any kind of courage. Sean Penn
The presumption of innocence only means you don't go right to jail. Ann Coulter
Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence. John Lydon
The innocence that feels no risk and is taught no caution, is more vulnerable than guilt, and oftener assailed. Nathaniel Parker Willis
There's nothing more contagious than the laughter of young children; it doesn't even have to matter what they're laughing about. Criss Jami
I'm interested in how innocence fares when it collides with hard reality. Geoffrey S. Fletcher
Innocence is one of the most exciting things in the world. Eartha Kitt
Unfortunately the innocent are always involved in any conflict. Always, everywhere, there is some voice crying from a tower. Graham Greene
Innocence could be considered a discrete state of mind. John Shirley
I have always said that innocence is much more powerful than experience. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
The sweet converse of an innocent mind. John Keats
There is an innocence in admiration: it occurs in one who has not yet realized that they might one day be admired. Friedrich Nietzsche
Innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm. Graham Greene
The worst of us is not without innocence, although buried deeply it might be. Walt Disney
Innocence does not find near so much protection as guilt. Francois de la Rochefoucauld
No man knows the value of innocence and integrity but he who has lost them. William Godwin
For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy. G.K. Chesterton
There is but one resource for innocence among men or women, and that is an embargo upon all commerce of bad men. Henry Ward Beecher
Whoever blushes is already guilty; true innocence is ashamed of nothing. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Innocence ends when one is stripped of the delusion that one likes oneself. Joan Didion
The innocence of childhood is like the innocence of a lot of animals. Clint Eastwood
All things truly wicked start from an innocence. Ernest Hemingway
In their innocence, very young children know themselves to be light and love. If we will allow them, they can teach us to see ourselves the same way. Michael Jackson
Innocence is like polished armor; it adorns and defends. Robert South
Go in thy native innocence, rely on what thou hast of virtue, summon all, for God towards thee hath done his part, do thine. John Milton
It's innocence when it charms us, ignorance when it doesn't. Mignon McLaughlin
Innocence is always unsuspicious. Joseph Joubert
No one loses their innocence. It is either taken or given away willingly. Tiffany Madison
An honest man is always a child. Socrates
Innocence is thought charming because it offers delightful possibilities for exploitation. Mason Cooley
Innocence: I am only stepping on your face because it lies in my path. Mason Cooley
Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors. Henry David Thoreau
The essential self is innocent, and when it tastes its own innocence knows that it lives for ever. John Updike
It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one. Voltaire
I read the dreams upon her face. Through dimples in her cheek, and smiles which trace the subtle grace of innocence asleep. Samuel Alfred Beadle
Innocence bleeding, within the deep warm incision of a preternatural beginning. Kurt Philip Behm
When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind. Patrick Rothfuss
It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished. John Adams
We are born with our heads turned back, but my mother says we have to face into the future now. You have to earn your own innocence, she says. You have to grow up and become innocent. Hugo Hamilton
Innocence ain't all it's cracked up to be, you know. Innocent little kids rip the wings off flies, because they don't know any better. That's innocence. Joe Hill
That's the beautiful thing about innocence; even monsters have a pocketful of childhood memories with which to seek comfort with. Dave Matthes
Innocence invites protection, yet we might be smarter to protect ourselves against it. Megan Johns
Innocence always calls mutely for protection when we would be so much wiser to guard ourselves against it Graham Greene
You can call it innocence, or you can call it gullibility. Lionel Shriver
There are many more layers to innocence than one might ever imagine, and we are ever unaware of them until each barrier is breached. Paula Reed
Innocence is not the prerogative of infants and puppies, and far less of mountains and fixed stars, which have no prerogatives at all. It is not lost to us; the world is a better place than that. Annie Dillard
What I call innocence is the spirit’s unselfconscious state at any moment of pure devotion to any object. Annie Dillard
Childhood innocence was a hell of a drug. Lily Seabrooke
Innocence, that mild form of mental deficiency, has the same aphrodisiac effect as softness of skin. Jean Baudrillard
An hour of innocence builds more trust than years of diplomacy. Abhijit Naskar
Innocence is something we humans pass through and leave behind, unable to return. But animals live and die in that state, and seeing innocence violated in the form of cruelty to a mere duck can seem like the most barbaric act in the world. The Friend: A Novel
But innocence is only pleasurable because it is transient. Iain Pears
A childlike innocence is requested by existence. Every time, in every circumstance – a priceless purity. Ilie Cioara
Innocence was a luxury. Leigh Bardugo
Innocence is a temporary, maybe even an unreal, condition. Destined to die. Patricia Hampl
Innocence lost is supposed to be experience gained, and therefore not a bad trade. Patricia Hampl
The consciousness of innocence is an excellent anchor, no doubt. Albert Payson Terhune