Innocence

The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,
Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.
~ William Blake, from Songs of Innocence (1789). Holy Thursday

Unorganiz'd Innocence, An Impossibility
Innocence dwells with Wisdom, but never with Ignorance.
~ William Blake, Inscription in Vala, or the Four Zoas (1797).

Catch the warm passions of the tender youth
And win the mind to sentiment and truth.
~ William Hill Brown, The Power of Sympathy: or, The Triumph of Nature. Founded in Truth (1789).

These are the Gardens of the Desert, these
The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful,
And fresh as the young earth, ere man had sinned --
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Poems (1836 edition). The Prairies (written in 1832)

On advice of counsel, I am unable to answer any questions today, and this position is based among other things, on privacy and due process rights, and the right against being compelled to provide evidence that may tend to incriminate one's self ... one of the Fifth Amendment's basic functions is to protect innocent men who might be ensnared by ambiguous circumstances. I find myself in such circumstances ...
~ William M. Bulger, Statement to the House Committee on Government Reform (6 December 2002)

Had laws not been, we never had been blam'd;
For not to know we sinn'd is innocence.
~ Sir William Davenant, in The Works of Sir William Davenant (1673). The Philosophers Disquisition, directed to the Dying Christian

As innocent as a new-laid egg.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Engaged (1877). Act I

No one knows the worth of innocence till he knows it is gone forever, and that money cannot buy it back.
~ William James, An Address to the Harvard Divinity Students (1884). The Dilemma of Determinism

My Lord, it is a very hard sentence. For my part, I am the innocentest person of them all, only I have been sworn against by perjured persons.
~ Captain William Kidd (reaction after being sentenced to death, 1701).

How many bitter thoughts does the innocent man avoid?
~ William Paley, in The Works of William Paley, Volume IV (1811). Preservation and Recovery from Sin

Innocent, is not to be Guilty: But Virtuous is to overcome our evil Inclinations.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Complete Virtue

It is far better to be innocent, than penitent; to prevent the malady, than invent the remedy.
~ William Secker, from The Nonsuch Professor in His Meridian Splendor, or the Singular Actions of Sanctified Christians (1660).

The trust I have is in mine innocence,
And therefore am I bold and resolute.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part II. Act IV, scene iv

First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity: no really self-respecting woman would take advantage of it.
~ Willie "The Lion" Smith

The innocence that feels no risk and is taught no caution, is more vulnerable than guilt, and oftener assailed.
~ Nathaniel Parker (N.P.) Willis, from The Rag-Bag, A Collection Of Ephemera (1855). A Little Gossip

Considering that, all hatred driven hence,
The soul recovers radical innocence
And learns at last that it is self-delighting,
Self-appeasing, self-affrighting,
And that its own sweet will is Heaven's will.
~ William Butler Yeats, from Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921). A Prayer for My Daughter (June 1919).