--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I don’t know why it was so important for…" description: "\"“I don’t know why it was so important for her to prove to a stranger that we were good-hearted, when we knew ourselves to be—but the suggestion that we..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/542/ransom-riggs-1816_nature_i-don-t-know-why-it-was-so-important-for_1708090.jpg" --- # I don’t know why it was so important for her to prove to a… ![“I don’t know why it was so important for her to prove to a stranger that we were good-hearted, when we knew ourselves to be—but the suggestion that we were anything less than angels walking the earth, that our natures were more complexly shaded, seemed to bother her. “They don’t understand,” she…” quote by Ransom Riggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/542/ransom-riggs-1816_nature_i-don-t-know-why-it-was-so-important-for_1708090.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/542/ransom-riggs-1816_nature_i-don-t-know-why-it-was-so-important-for_1708090.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/542/ransom-riggs-1816_nature_i-don-t-know-why-it-was-so-important-for_1708090.jpg) > ““I don’t know why it was so important for her to prove to a stranger that we were good-hearted, when we knew ourselves to be—but the suggestion that we were anything less than angels walking the earth, that our natures were more complexly shaded, seemed to bother her. “They don’t understand,” she kept saying. Then again, I thought, maybe they do.”” [Ransom Riggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ransom-riggs/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator doubts the need to prove goodness to strangers, questioning moral judgments and self‑perception. **In simple terms:** Question why we seek external validation of goodness. Key Takeaway Avoid seeking approval for morality. Themes self‑image validation morality perception Mood contemplative introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal relationships - social media - ethical decisions Key Concepts social judgment identity complexity Questions to Reflect On - Do you ever feel pressured to appear virtuous? - How does self‑knowledge affect your actions? A Different Perspective External validation can distort self‑understanding. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Stranger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stranger/) ## Related quotes > [“Never prove anything to a stranger, who are they anyway!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audrey-kanyera/never-prove-anything-to-a-stranger-who-are-they-anyway/) [Audrey Kanyera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audrey-kanyera/) > [When I finished 'P.S. I Still Love You,' I truly was done with the series. 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"We are saved.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ransom-riggs/oh-thank-heavens-someone-remembered-the-bath-mat-enoch-deadpanned-we/) [Ransom Riggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ransom-riggs/) > [“You tread a precariously thin line between being charmingly headstrong and insufferably pigheaded.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ransom-riggs/you-tread-a-precariously-thin-line-between-being-charmingly/) [Ransom Riggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ransom-riggs/) > [“I did love her, of course, but mostly because loving your mom is mandatory, not because she was someone I think I'd like very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ransom-riggs/i-did-love-her-of-course-but-mostly-because-loving-your-mom-is/) [Ransom Riggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ransom-riggs/) > [“ ‘You don’t strike me as a quitter.’ ‘Then you don’t know me very well,’ I replied.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ransom-riggs/you-don-t-strike-me-as-a-quitter-then-you-don-t-know-me-very-well-i/) [Ransom Riggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ransom-riggs/) > [“I came to enjoy communicating by hand. 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Me proporcionaba una sensación estúpida, frágil y agradable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ransom-riggs/yo-no-sab-a-como-llamar-a-aquello-que-suced-a-entre-nosotros-pero-me/) [Ransom Riggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ransom-riggs/) > [“I think they worried that my grandfather would infect me with some incurable dreaminess from which I’d never recover – that these fantasies were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ransom-riggs/i-think-they-worried-that-my-grandfather-would-infect-me-with-some/) [Ransom Riggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ransom-riggs/) [Explore all 201 Ransom Riggs quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ransom-riggs/) ## More Nature quotes > [It is indeed a surprising and fortunate fact that nature can be expressed by relatively low-order mathematical functions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-carnap/it-is-indeed-a-surprising-and-fortunate-fact-that-nature-can-be/) [Rudolf Carnap](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-carnap/) > [Remember that your natural state is joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/remember-that-your-natural-state-is-joy/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Put on my J's and dance the whole night away Im naughty by nature like Im hip-hop hooray With my hands in the sky,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/put-on-my-j-s-and-dance-the-whole-night-away-im-naughty-by-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Borrow trouble for yourself, if that's your nature, but don't lend it to your neighbours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudyard-kipling/borrow-trouble-for-yourself-if-that-s-your-nature-but-don-t-lend-it/) [Rudyard Kipling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudyard-kipling/) > [There is no human nature, since there is no god to conceive it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/there-is-no-human-nature-since-there-is-no-god-to-conceive-it/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [“Men mistook measurement for understanding. 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