--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Innocence might be its own reward, but…" description: "\"“Innocence might be its own reward, but when it boardered on naivete, if not stupidity, it was unforgivable.”\" — Elizabeth Aston" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e02/elizabeth-aston-18234_innocence_innocence-might-be-its-own-reward-but-wh_219947.png" --- # Innocence might be its own reward, but when it boardered… ![“Innocence might be its own reward, but when it boardered on naivete, if not stupidity, it was unforgivable.” quote by Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e02/elizabeth-aston-18234_innocence_innocence-might-be-its-own-reward-but-wh_219947.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e02/elizabeth-aston-18234_innocence_innocence-might-be-its-own-reward-but-wh_219947.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e02/elizabeth-aston-18234_innocence_innocence-might-be-its-own-reward-but-wh_219947.png) > ““Innocence might be its own reward, but when it boardered on naivete, if not stupidity, it was unforgivable.”” [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Innocence is valuable, but when it crosses into naïve ignorance, it becomes a fault that cannot be excused. **In simple terms:** Pure innocence can become foolishness. Key Takeaway Balance innocence with informed awareness. Themes innocence wisdom accountability Mood reflective critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - education - leadership - parenting - media consumption Key Concepts naïveté moral judgment personal growth Questions to Reflect On - How do you distinguish healthy innocence from harmful naïveté? - When is questioning better than trusting? A Different Perspective Blind trust can lead to harmful mistakes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Innocence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocence/) [Unforgivable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unforgivable/) ## Related quotes > [“THE UNFORGIVEN Tell me if you've ever had to deal with these kinds of people: The kind who take and don't give. The kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzy-kassem/the-unforgiven-tell-me-if-you-ve-ever-had-to-deal-with-these-kinds-of/) [Suzy Kassem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzy-kassem/) > [What would it be like to live in a library of melted books. 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Chesterton, that sex without gestation and parturition is like blowing the trumpets and waving the flags…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dora-russell/i-read-recently-in-an-article-by-g-k-chesterton-that-sex-without/) [Dora Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dora-russell/) > [All you have done is to be different from other women and you have made a little success of it. This is unforgivable sin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mitchell/all-you-have-done-is-to-be-different-from-other-women-and-you-have/) [Margaret Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mitchell/) > [People have no morals, I swear to God. The things that people do for ratings! It's unforgivable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madonna-ciccone/people-have-no-morals-i-swear-to-god-the-things-that-people-do-for/) [Madonna Ciccone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madonna-ciccone/) > [As long as we hold unforgivable thoughts in our mind, we will not be able to experience total inner peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-jampolsky/as-long-as-we-hold-unforgivable-thoughts-in-our-mind-we-will-not-be/) [Gerald Jampolsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-jampolsky/) > [“I will not ask you for forgiveness. What I have done is unforgivable. I was so lost in hatred and revenge. I never dreamed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-rudnick/i-will-not-ask-you-for-forgiveness-what-i-have-done-is-unforgivable-i/) [Elizabeth Rudnick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-rudnick/) ## More by Elizabeth Aston > [“Authors go on writing books, and so we go on reading them. It is a sad state of affairs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/authors-go-on-writing-books-and-so-we-go-on-reading-them-it-is-a-sad/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [What is right for one couple is wrong for another. I would say that there are many more important factors to a happy marriage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/what-is-right-for-one-couple-is-wrong-for-another-i-would-say-that/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [You would not think that birds who have no brain at all could become so friendly. I swear some of them are more intelligent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/you-would-not-think-that-birds-who-have-no-brain-at-all-could-become/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [How close the sexes sometimes come to one another. It is as much a matter of behaviour and the spere in which they move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/how-close-the-sexes-sometimes-come-to-one-another-it-is-as-much-a/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [Charge less, but charge. Otherwise, you will not be taken seriously, and you do your fellow artists no favours if you undercut the market.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/charge-less-but-charge-otherwise-you-will-not-be-taken-seriously-and/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [Anyone may have diamonds: an heirloom is an ornament of quite a different kind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/anyone-may-have-diamonds-an-heirloom-is-an-ornament-of-quite-a/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [The trouble with lies was that once started, the fiction had to be continued, and it was hard always to be remembering details that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/the-trouble-with-lies-was-that-once-started-the-fiction-had-to-be/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [Love has no place in a lawyer's office.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/love-has-no-place-in-a-lawyer-s-office/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [It is all very well, when the pen flows, but then there are the dark days when imagination deserts one, and it is an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/it-is-all-very-well-when-the-pen-flows-but-then-there-are-the-dark/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [We have to have the money to do the work we want to do, as well as to keep a roof over our heads…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/we-have-to-have-the-money-to-do-the-work-we-want-to-do-as-well-as-to/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [It is a sadness of growing older that some of us lose our ardent appreciation of what is new and different and difficult.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/it-is-a-sadness-of-growing-older-that-some-of-us-lose-our-ardent/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [“You'll meet someone else; there are more fish in the sea, as the saying is, than ever came out of it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/you-ll-meet-someone-else-there-are-more-fish-in-the-sea-as-the-saying/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [It's not what you want in this life, it's what you get that you have to do with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/it-s-not-what-you-want-in-this-life-it-s-what-you-get-that-you-have/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [People make one happy, not houses? I do not think so. Houses are more to be trusted than people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/people-make-one-happy-not-houses-i-do-not-think-so-houses-are-more-to/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) > [Mountains inspire awe in any human person who has a soul. They remind us of our frailty, our unimportance, of the briefness of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/mountains-inspire-awe-in-any-human-person-who-has-a-soul-they-remind/) [Elizabeth Aston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) [Explore all 35 Elizabeth Aston quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/) ## More Innocence quotes > [Children, Never look Back!" and this meant that we must never allow the future to be weighed down by memory . for children have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/children-never-look-back-and-this-meant-that-we-must-never-allow-the/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [It's still possible to savor the remarkable foods that millennia of human ingenuity have teased from milk. A sip of milk itself or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-mcgee/it-s-still-possible-to-savor-the-remarkable-foods-that-millennia-of/) Harold McGee > [You've had a whole lot of experience, but everything is also radically new at each moment, and you have to bring a kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-houston/you-ve-had-a-whole-lot-of-experience-but-everything-is-also-radically/) [Jean Houston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-houston/) > [It had never occurred to Giles that there was something perfectly sensible about wanting to hold onto innocence. He had always gone in for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-had-never-occurred-to-giles-that-there-was-something-perfectly/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Let us not subside into a single mandatory way of thinking or feeling, immersed by a spirit of self-gratification. But let’s dig into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/let-us-not-subside-into-a-single-mandatory-way-of-thinking-or-feeling/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [I don't think that on a daily basis, people need to be so concerned with others think. When someone comes forward and is an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-goreski/i-don-t-think-that-on-a-daily-basis-people-need-to-be-so-concerned/) [Brad Goreski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-goreski/) > [ “...under no circumstances would he \[Humbert Humbert\] have interfered with the innocence of a child, if there was the least risk of a row.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/under-no-circumstances-would-he-humbert-humbert-have-interfered-with/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is one of the most vicious crimes conceivable, a violation of mankind's most basic duty to protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-t-walsh/the-sexual-abuse-and-exploitation-of-children-is-one-of-the-most/) [James T. Walsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-t-walsh/) > [The decision of such judges as Claudius and his Senate is worth very little in the question of a man's innocence or guilt; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-decision-of-such-judges-as-claudius-and-his-senate-is-worth-very/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Ignorance is innocence - stupidity comes with experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amos-bronson-alcott/ignorance-is-innocence-stupidity-comes-with-experience/) [Amos Bronson Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amos-bronson-alcott/) > [Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-golding/ralph-wept-for-the-end-of-innocence-the-darkness-of-man-s-heart-and/) [William Golding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-golding/) > [There could never be innocence in a world without justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-bowler/there-could-never-be-innocence-in-a-world-without-justice/) [Tim Bowler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-bowler/) > [White and shining virgin of all human virtues, ark of the covenant between earth and heaven, tender and strong companion partaking of the lion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/white-and-shining-virgin-of-all-human-virtues-ark-of-the-covenant/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [“In every guilty man, there is an element of innocence. 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Was I the source of your greatest bliss?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roman-payne/wanderess-wanderess-when-did-you-feel-your-most-euphoric-kiss-was-i/) [Roman Payne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roman-payne/) [Browse all 1,629 Innocence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Innocence might be its own reward, but when it boardered on naivete, if not stupidity, it was unforgivable.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Aston" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/innocence-might-be-its-own-reward-but-when-it-boardered-on-naivete-if/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Innocence" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/innocence-might-be-its-own-reward-but-when-it-boardered-on-naivete-if/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e02/elizabeth-aston-18234_innocence_innocence-might-be-its-own-reward-but-wh_219947.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e02/elizabeth-aston-18234_innocence_innocence-might-be-its-own-reward-but-wh_219947.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e02/elizabeth-aston-18234_innocence_innocence-might-be-its-own-reward-but-wh_219947.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Innocence might be its own reward, but when it boardered on naivete, if not stupidity, it was unforgivable.” — Elizabeth Aston", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Elizabeth Aston", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-aston/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Innocence might be its own reward,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/innocence-might-be-its-own-reward-but-when-it-boardered-on-naivete-if/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-aston/innocence-might-be-its-own-reward-but-when-it-boardered-on-naivete-if/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```