--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Innocence alone dares commit certain acts…" description: "\"Innocence alone dares commit certain acts of audacity. Virtue, when tutored, is as calculating as vice.\" — Honore de Balzac" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b74/honor-de-balzac-197_audacity_innocence-alone-dares-commit-certain-act_2623445.png" --- # Innocence alone dares commit certain acts of audacity… ![“Innocence alone dares commit certain acts of audacity. Virtue, when tutored, is as calculating as vice.” quote by Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b74/honor-de-balzac-197_audacity_innocence-alone-dares-commit-certain-act_2623445.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b74/honor-de-balzac-197_audacity_innocence-alone-dares-commit-certain-act_2623445.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b74/honor-de-balzac-197_audacity_innocence-alone-dares-commit-certain-act_2623445.png) > “Innocence alone dares commit certain acts of audacity. Virtue, when tutored, is as calculating as vice.” [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Innocence can act boldly, but taught virtue may become as strategic as wrongdoing. **In simple terms:** Boldness of innocence versus calculated virtue. Key Takeaway Beware letting virtue become manipulative. Themes innocence audacity virtue morality Mood reflective cautious Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - personal growth - leadership - ethical decision making Key Concepts ethical paradox human nature Questions to Reflect On - How do you keep virtue sincere? - When does taught virtue become a tool? A Different Perspective Virtue can become self‑serving when overly instructed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Audacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audacity/) [Audacity Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audacity-virtue-2128998/) [Calculating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calculating/) [Certain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certain/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Commit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commit/) [Dare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dare/) [Dares Commit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dares-commit-2128999/) [Innocence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocence/) [Innocence Dares](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocence-dares-2128997/) [Vices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vices/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) [Virtue Tutored](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue-tutored-2128996/) ## Related quotes > [The ways in which acquired savants show up are usually the same ways that congenital, or non-acquired, savant syndrome shows up. 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On one level we can be thinking, discussing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-raymond-kelly/there-is-a-way-of-ordering-our-mental-life-on-more-than-one-level-at/) [Thomas Raymond Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-raymond-kelly/) ## More by Honore de Balzac > [“Oh, my friend, when you love, love a woman whom you are sure that you can love always. 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When they see a masterpiece, they must needs at one glance recognize some flaw to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/rich-men-are-resolved-to-be-astonished-at-nothing-when-they-see-a/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [I am a galley slave to pen and ink.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/i-am-a-galley-slave-to-pen-and-ink/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [One can imagine the look the two lovers exchanged; it was like a flame, for virtuous lovers have not a shred of hypocrisy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/one-can-imagine-the-look-the-two-lovers-exchanged-it-was-like-a-flame/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [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/) > [All men can bear a familiar, definite misfortune better than the cruel alternations of a fate which, from one moment to another, brings excessive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/all-men-can-bear-a-familiar-definite-misfortune-better-than-the-cruel/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [The mind, too, has its regimen. It needs gymnastics, just like the body does.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/the-mind-too-has-its-regimen-it-needs-gymnastics-just-like-the-body/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [Hatred like love feeds on the merest trifles. Everything adds to it. Just as the being we love can do no wrong, so the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/hatred-like-love-feeds-on-the-merest-trifles-everything-adds-to-it/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [All human power is a compound of time and patience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/all-human-power-is-a-compound-of-time-and-patience/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) [Explore all 793 Honore de Balzac quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) ## More Audacity quotes > [All too often, it is audacity and not talent that moves an artist to center stage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-cameron/all-too-often-it-is-audacity-and-not-talent-that-moves-an-artist-to/) [Julia Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-cameron/) > [“Between an Error and a Lie, there are Worlds – an Error is an unintended Mistake, a Lie is an intentional Audacity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sino-melo/between-an-error-and-a-lie-there-are-worlds-an-error-is-an-unintended/) [Sino Melo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sino-melo/) > [Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/few-men-realize-that-their-life-the-very-essence-of-their-character/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [To reinvent your own country you need a great audacity of hope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-rgen-moltmann/to-reinvent-your-own-country-you-need-a-great-audacity-of-hope/) [Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) > [“She was fierce in the presence of death, heroic even, as she was at no other time. 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Who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-evenson/anything-can-happen-anything-or-nothing-who-can-say-the-world/) [Brian Evenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-evenson/) > [“How can you have memories if you don't have the audacity to create them?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-wunder/how-can-you-have-memories-if-you-don-t-have-the-audacity-to-create/) [Wendy Wunder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-wunder/) > [“The audacity of my sagacity is instrumentality to my successity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ifeanyi-enoch-onuoha/the-audacity-of-my-sagacity-is-instrumentality-to-my-successity/) [Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ifeanyi-enoch-onuoha/) > [“I had artistic classical training, and when you learn the classics for so many years, you might gain audacity, power and confidence to subvert…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nuno-roque/i-had-artistic-classical-training-and-when-you-learn-the-classics-for/) [Nuno Roque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nuno-roque/) > [God beckons storm clouds and they come. 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