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• Ignorance is bliss
  Ignorance is bliss

  Not knowing something is often more comfortable than knowing it.
• ignorance is bliss
  ignorance is bliss

  What you don't know won't hurt you. For example, She decided not to read the critics' reviews—ignorance is bliss. Although its truth may be dubious at best, this idea has been expressed since ancient times. The actual wording, however, comes from Thomas Gray's poem, “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College” (1742): “Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.”

Ignorance is bliss

Cultural  

1. Not knowing something is often more comfortable than knowing it.

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ignorance is bliss Idioms  

1. What you don't know won't hurt you. For example, She decided not to read the critics' reviews—ignorance is bliss. Although its truth may be dubious at best, this idea has been expressed since ancient times. The actual wording, however, comes from Thomas Gray's poem, “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College” (1742): “Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.”

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This proverb resembles “What you don't know cannot hurt you.” It figures in a passage from “On a Distant Prospect of Eton College,” by the eighteenth-century English poet Thomas Gray: “Where ignorance is bliss, / ‘Tis folly to be wise.’”

Example Sentences

"I still don’t think it’s hit me a little bit. Ignorance is bliss at this point where you don’t really realize what’s going on yet, but it felt good," Ingram said.

From Fox News • Oct. 24, 2021

“I still don’t think it’s hit me a little bit. Ignorance is bliss at this point where you don’t really realize what’s going on yet, but it felt good,” Ingram said.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 24, 2021

So this week I learned the true meaning of "Ignorance is bliss."

From US News • Oct. 22, 2014

"Ignorance is bliss on that front, really," reckons Howard.

From The Guardian • May 18, 2013

So that we may be almost ready to say, in her case, "Ignorance is bliss."

From Forty Years in the Wilderness of Pills and Powders Cogitations and Confessions of an Aged Physician by Alcott, William A. (William Andrus)