“If a person who has actual simplicity says or does something, no matter how peculiar, other people will not be disturbed by it, because the simple person has the Grace of God and does not provoke. On the other hand, a person who does not have any simplicity may speak to you with worldly politeness, and virtually break your bones.  Natural simplicity is that of a child. When you scold a misbehaving child, he starts to cry. The moment you give the child a toy, everything is forgotten. You see, the child will not start examining why you had scolded him earlier and then gave him a toy to play with, for the child works with the heart, whereas an adult works with the mind…but natural simplicity – like all natural virtues – has to be polished. A person who is simple by nature may be harmless; he may be kind and so forth, but he may also have a child’s wily cunning. For instance, while he may not think ill of his neighbor, if he has to choose between two things, he will take the better for himself and leave the worse for the other. He is like a piece of gold that is mixed with scrap metal; it has to go through the crucible in order to become pure gold.”
– ‘Passions and Virtues’