The road to hell is paved with good intentions

1. Merely intending to do good, without actually doing it, is of no value.

Idioms and Phrases

Well-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]

Example Sentences

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions … the North Dakota preacher Jay Reinke was doing a goodness when he opened the doors of his church to all those in need of shelter after the local oil boom dried up and affordable housing became scarce.

Read more on The Guardian

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.

Read more on New York Times