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The road to hell is paved with good intentions
The road to hell is paved with good intentionsMerely intending to do good, without actually doing it, is of no value.
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road to hell is paved with good intentions, the
road to hell is paved with good intentions, theWell-intended acts can have disastrous results, as in She tried to help by defending Dad's position and they haven't spoken since—the road to hell is paved with good intentions. This proverbial idiom probably derives from a similar statement by St. Bernard of Clairvaux about 1150, L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs (“Hell is full of good intentions or wishes”), and has been repeated ever since. [Late 1500s]
The road to hell is paved with good intentions
CulturalExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Crisis of European Democracy Cambridge, Mass. IF proof were needed of the maxim that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the economic crisis in Europe provides it.
From New York Times • May 23, 2012
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