According To The Proverb What Is The Road To Hell Paved With: What does it imply when they say, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions“? Nice deeds seldom happen, despite the greatest of intentions. This shows that even the best intentions are worthless unless they are carried out. Almost all proverbs have a murky, difficult-to-trace past. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, according to a lot of people who claim to have put it on their CV. The remark is often attributed to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a Cistercian abbot (1090-1153 AD).
In correspondence, he credited St. Francis de Sales with saying this, citing Lettres d’Amitié Spirituelle (written in 1640 and printed in 1980). De Sales translated it as “Hell is full of excellent intentions and wishes,” or “L’enfer est pleine de bonnes volontés or desires.” Francis’ testimony and the text discovered in St. Bernard’s works are five hundred years apart, thus we can discount Francis’ assertion.
The proverb “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”: its meaning and origin
After waiting for the first St. Bernard myth for five hundred years, the second one finally comes. No one gets brandy from St. Bernard search and rescue dogs wearing casks around their necks when they are lost in the snow. This idea was influenced by the well-known Victorian painter Sir Edwin Landseer. His 1820 picture Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveller shows such a situation, and it soon caught on in the public’s imagination. Despite Landseer’s invention, it never happened.
The adage reappears. Early English translations simply stated that hell is full of bad intentions rather than the phrase “hell is full of good intentions.” The subject of paving has frequently come up in recent years. This adaption may have been influenced by Ecclesiasticus 21:10. Sinners’ paths may be paved with stones, but when they reach their destination, they will be in the burning pits of hell.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica
James Boswell appears to be the most well-known source of the adage’s “paved” variant after Saint Bernard. Johnson was more conscious of the catastrophic failure of pious resolves than any other saint during his holy battle. In passing, he once said on the subject to a friend, “Sir Hell is paved with good intentions.” However, Johnson did not come up with the expression. The version that Johnson later mentioned in his work was used by English theologian John Ray when he compiled A Collection of English Proverbs in 1670.
The “road” element was included a few years later. The entire saying “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” was originally printed in Henry G. (https://treehouselodge.com) Bohn’s A Handbook of Proverbs, published in 1855. There is no proof that Bohn or Ray ever stated they were the ones who coined the expression. Unknown is the term’s place of origin. The road to hell is frequently paved with the greatest of intentions when it comes to good intentions.
Meaning:
A common interpretation of the proverb holds that good intentions can sometimes mask wrongdoings or poor behavior, or even that when they are put into practice, good intentions can have unintended consequences. Despite having good intentions, people are not always able to carry them out. This inaction could be attributed to procrastination, sloth, or any other subversive behavior. Your good intentions won’t help much if you don’t put them into action. This is the phrase’s meaning.
Moral certainty can be used to defend against the harm brought on by poor actions and policies. For individuals who are acting with good intentions, the benefits of their acts are obvious. These individuals justify their harm by claiming that it is for the greater good. Even actions that appear to be “positive” on the surface might cause emotional and bodily anguish. For instance, a soldier who enlists in the military to defend his or her country can get post-traumatic stress disorder after returning home (PTSD).
Studies:
According to psychological research by academicians Peter Gollwitzer, Paschal Sheeran, and Sheina Orbell, there is some truth to the proverb. Perfectionists are more likely to have their well-intentioned actions taken in the wrong direction. This idea states that people are more likely to attribute their own actions to good intentions than those of others. Initiatives focused on collective ethics have a propensity to fail. When laws are used to do this, people frequently follow the letter of the law rather than altering their behavior as intended.
In negotiations, groups that are encouraged to better comprehend the other side’s viewpoint perform worse than those who are not. In some circumstances, the threat of punishment may actually cause people to behave less ethically. According to studies on business ethics, most wrongdoing is produced by those who made mistakes in judgment without intending to do so. In a piece about altruism, Stephen Garrard Post claims that “If the way to hell is paved with good intentions, it is mainly because that is the road they generally start out on.”
Some of the most impressive are listed below:
- The road to hell has been paved with good intentions.
- Hell is overflowing with goodwill and well wishes.
- Be careful of those who seem to have good intentions.
- Even the best of intentions can send a person to hell.
- Paradise is surrounded by hardships, whereas the Fire is surrounded by yearning.
- Sinners’ paths may be paved with stones, but when they reach their destination, they will be in the burning pits of hell.
By considering an illustration, this adage can also be understood in a variety of contexts. To prove our thesis, we’ll use the example of a struggling family guy. a hard-working individual who had faced hardship but has since recovered. He was fired from a respectable company and is still looking for work.
If you don’t get off on the right foot, you can’t make it to Heaven
Along with that, he has to feed his family. With a total of three children and a wife who also depends on him, they are all financially dependent on him. He has been out of the office for a while now. They will soon go hungry because it has been so long and he is running low on money. The man steals food from the market. He does what he does with good intentions. He is simply trying to support his family by working so hard, after all. He must steal food he can’t afford in order to prevent starving his family.
Despite this, the man does not consider the long-term effects of his choices. The market’s owner is suffering a significant financial loss. Alarmingly quickly, items from his inventory are being removed, and he has no way to replace them. The man is taking food for his family, but his behavior is making things difficult for the owner of the market. Even if he is unaware of it, the man’s good intentions have now had a negative effect on someone else.
With the aid of this example, it is much simpler to attempt to comprehend this sentence. It only serves to demonstrate how even those with the best of intentions can succumb to vice’s attractions. The man wants to support his family, which is admirable. He has to steal food in order to accomplish this crime. He will spend the rest of his life in hell if he doesn’t make a change in his behavior.
These are the last things I’d like to say to you:
The proverb “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” has application for people. Despite your best efforts, it’s possible that what you’re doing is making other people suffer.
