Insecurity twists meanings and poisons trust. In a closely beleaguered city every sentry is a potential traitor.
Graham GreeneRead
Innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Innocence can be blissful yet vulnerable, often unaware of the potential dangers around it.
Graham Greene's quote suggests that innocence is a form of naivety that can be likened to a lost leper without a bell, symbolizing the lack of awareness and caution. This imagery conveys the idea that innocent individuals may wander through life unwittingly, posing no threat to others, yet simultaneously exposing themselves to the risks and harsh realities of the world.
Themes
InnocenceNaivetyVulnerabilityAwarenessLife
In practice
Example use cases
This quote is perfect for a discussion on the nature of human innocence during a psychology lecture.
More from Graham Greene
All quotes →It seemed to Scobie that life was immeasurably long. Couldn’t the test of man have been carried out in fewer years? Couldn’t we have committed our first major sin at seven, have ruined ourselves for love or hate at ten, have clutched at redemption on a fifteen-year-old deathbed?
Graham GreeneRead
God is love. I don't say the heart doesn't feel a taste of it, but what a taste. The smallest glass of love mixed with a pint pot of ditch-water. We wouldn't recognize that love. It might even look like hate. It would be enough to scare us - God's love.
Graham GreeneRead
Of two hearts one is always warm and one is always cold: the cold heart is more precious than diamonds: the warm heart has no value and is thrown away.
Graham GreeneRead
Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.
Graham GreeneRead
Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector. It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully.
Graham GreeneRead
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