Definitions HQ

Innocence (n.) protested ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠against nonexistent charges is a self-deception powered by the very impulses the imagined accusations describe.

Innocence (n.) lasts ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in some to the end: there are greybeards who die as innocent as babes in arms, and troglodytes are still being born this year.

Innocence (n.) makes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the bloodless maiden prized by men because she is empty enough to receive anything they impute — her famous foibles are largely their own projections.

Innocence (n.) believed ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in by a man who thinks he is only what his consciousness knows adds stupidity to iniquity.

Innocence (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the illusion of the man without a shadow — he thinks himself harmless precisely because he is ignorant of it; the man who knows his shadow knows he is not.

Innocence (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not always innocence: the young wife who believes babies come through the abdominal wall shows a childhood sexual activity that brought the natural ways into ill repute.