{"id":24218,"date":"2025-09-19T17:23:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T17:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24218"},"modified":"2025-09-19T17:23:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T17:23:47","slug":"good-intentions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24218","title":{"rendered":"Good Intentions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the things that came up in conversation last night was the expression <strong>the road to hell is paved with good intentions<\/strong>. This got me wondering about where it comes from and whether there are similar phrases in other languages.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ljsilver71\/31034924681\/in\/photolist-2mktwEx-HXio3r-KsGeob-2jBejj7-2oQS7DZ-2oxQxvQ-Phs6Si-2qsdUKw-2ni8NiY-2r9YuFD-2muWbW4-2qp8Sng-R4ZdRz-2ogpcXv-2jUZjGU-4GJW3u-7sSfin-Fq7dXi-2cuNE8M-2muMokw-4HJAFi-2oALew7-RqqP75-P9nESA-EqZrV6-2oJ2jyM-4U7Qhe-CqJyt-2mx9ni6-2dsXVw4-2kgVzq2-x2C1Hu-2og3Gy3-2nJ9pvQ-2q7tixo-2myXKPn-2mAkxB1-2nTYHJh-2nYFRqb-2oeaRoZ\" title=\"The Road to Hell\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/5811\/31034924681_5600911025_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"414\" alt=\"The Road to Hell\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>The road to hell is paved with good intentions<\/strong> means that well-intended acts can potentially lead to disasters. Phrases with a similar meaning is <strong>hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good works<\/strong> and <strong>the streets of hell are paved with promises<\/strong> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/the_road_to_hell_is_paved_with_good_intentions\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The origins of this phrase are not known, but there have been sayings with a similar meaning going back a long way. For example, in the <em>Aeneid (book 6, lines 126-129)<\/em>, Virgil wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;facilis descensus Averno;<br \/>\nnoctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;<br \/>\nsed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,<br \/>\nhoc opus, hic labor est&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/gutenberg.org\/files\/227\/227-h\/227-h.htm#liber06\">source<\/a>].<br \/>\n<em>&#8220;The gates of hell are open night and day;<br \/>\nSmooth the descent, and easy is the way:<br \/>\nBut to return, and view the cheerful skies,<br \/>\nIn this the task and mighty labor lies&#8221;<\/em> [<a href=\"https:\/\/classics.mit.edu\/Virgil\/aeneid.6.vi.html\">source<\/a>].\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In the Bible (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kingjamesbibleonline.org\/Ecclesiasticus-Chapter-21\/\">Ecclesiasticus 21:10<\/a>) we have:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The way of sinners is made plain with stones, but at the end thereof is the pit of hell.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In around 1604, Bernard Clairvaux is claimed to have written, though probably didn&#8217;t:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>L&#8217;enfer est plein de bonnes volont\u00e9s ou d\u00e9sirs<br \/>\n<em>&#8220;Hell is full of good meanings and wills&#8221;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In 1670 in <em>A Collection of English Proverbs<\/em> collected by John Ray we have: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Hell is full of good meanings and wishes&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In 1741 John Wesley wrote in his sermon <em>The Almost Christian<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8216;Hell is paved&#8217;, saith one, &#8216;with good intentions.'&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In 1791 in James Boswell&#8217;s biography of Samuel Johnson, Boswell quotes Johnson as saying to an acquaintance:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Sir, hell is paved with good intentions.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In 1811 in an English translation of a book by Johann Jacob Rambach we find:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Der Weg zur H\u00f6llen sey mit lauter gutem Vorsatz gepflastert.&#8221;<br \/>\n<em>&#8220;The road to hell is paved with good resolutions&#8221;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Related phrases in other languages include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Catalan<\/strong>:  l&#8217;infern est\u00e0 ple de bones intencions<br \/>\n (<em>Hell is full of good intentions.<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li><strong>French<\/strong>: l&#8217;enfer est pav\u00e9 de bonnes intentions<br \/>\n(<em>Hell is paved with good intentions<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mandarin Chinese<\/strong>: \u597d\u5fc3\u6ca1\u597d\u62a5 [\u597d\u5fc3\u6c92\u597d\u5831] (h\u01ceox\u012bn m\u00e9i h\u01ceob\u00e0o)<br \/>\n(<em>Good intentions don&#8217;t go unrewarded<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spanish<\/strong>: el infierno est\u00e1 empedrado de buenas intenciones<br \/>\n(<em>Hell is paved with good intentions<\/em>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How about in other languages?<\/p>\n<p>Sources and more information about these expressions<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_road_to_hell_is_paved_with_good_intentions\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_road_to_hell_is_paved_with_good_intentions<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.phrases.org.uk\/meanings\/the-road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions.html\">https:\/\/www.phrases.org.uk\/meanings\/the-road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions.html<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/idiomorigins.org\/origin\/road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions\">https:\/\/idiomorigins.org\/origin\/road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the things that came up in conversation last night was the expression the road to hell is paved with good intentions. This got me wondering about where it comes from and whether there are similar phrases in other languages. The road to hell is paved with good intentions means that well-intended acts can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,95,104,107,111,116,10,15,64],"tags":[164,158,496,355,138,157,281,499,497,284,163],"class_list":["post-24218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catalan","category-chinese","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-german","category-language","category-latin","category-spanish","tag-english","tag-etymology","tag-good-intentions","tag-idioms","tag-language","tag-latin","tag-omniglot","tag-proverbs","tag-road-to-hell","tag-sayings","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24218"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24226,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24218\/revisions\/24226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}