They killed him because he was too innocent to live. He was young and ignorant and silly and he got involved. He had no more of a notion than any of you what the whole affair's about, and you gave him money and York Harding's books on the East and said, 'Go ahead. Win the East for democracy.' He never saw anything he hadn't heard in a lecture hall, and his writers and his lecturers made a fool of him. .Graham Greene
About This Quote
This quote speaks of what happens to those who are naive. They are taken advantage of, and those around them treat them as fools. In some cases, people take advantage of those who are naïve because they do not realize how people will react. In other cases, those who are naive do not realize how they are being used by others around them.
The author of the quote explains that he is talking about a man who was naive to the extent that he gave money out to a group of men who wanted him to win a political election for democracy. He admits that he was no different from the rest of us, and we all make foolish decisions from time to time, but this man was not able to see through the lies from others around him.
Source: The Quiet American
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