What does the catchphrase “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” mean? Codependency: When the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Origin

The authorship of the expression is often attributed to the English writer Samuel Johnson. His biographer James Boswell, in his memoirs, says that in 1755 Johnson said, “Hell is paved with good intentions.” However, Walter Scott in his novel The Bride of Lamermoor (1819) attributes its origin to one of the English theologians.

The most likely original author of the saying is considered to be the 17th century English theologian George Herbert, in whose book “Jacula prudentium” there is the phrase “Hell is full of good meaning and wishes.” With this saying, Herbert illustrated one of the main ideas of Protestant ethics, according to which the reality of faith certainly leads to the performance of good deeds. This saying echoes a saying from the Bible - in the book of Jesus, son of Sirach (chapter 21, v. 11) there is a phrase: “The path of sinners is paved with stones, but at the end of it is the abyss of hell.”

Thus, from a theological point of view, the meaning of this saying is that there are much more good intentions than good deeds, therefore people who have good intentions, but do not carry them out, cannot be considered righteous and thus cannot yet count on getting into paradise.

Other options

The road to hell is paved good intentions
The road to hell is paved with good intentions
Hell is paved with good intentions
Fifteen years of hell, which is paved with good (good) intentions
Good intentions lead straight to hell

Notes

Literature

Walter Scott. Bride of Lammermoor.
A. Kirsanova. Dictionary popular words and expressions. - M.: Martin, 2004. - 448 p. - 1500 copies. - ISBN 5-8475-0154-4

Links

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Good Intentions ("Lost")
Blabyrkhva (platform)

See what “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” means in other dictionaries:

The road to hell is paved with good intentions- From English: Hell is paved with good intentions. According to Boswell, biographer English writer, critic, essayist and lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), it was the latter who once said this phrase: “Hell is paved with good intentions.”… … Dictionary of popular words and expressions

The road to hell is paved with good intentions- last about the undesirable or severe consequences of attempts to implement an attractive, but insufficiently thought-out plan...

road- and, m. 1) A strip of land, rolled out or specially prepared for movement, a route of communication. Dirt road. Railway. Slippery road. The road was covered with snow. I go out alone onto the road; through the fog the flinty path shines... ... Popular dictionary of the Russian language

Hayek Friedrich von- Liberalism of Friedrich von Hayek Life and writings Friedrich August von Hayek was born in Vienna in 1899. During the First World War, as an Austrian artillery officer, he fought on the border with Italy. Returning to Vienna, he began to study... ... Western philosophy from its origins to the present day

HELL- HELL, ah, about hell, in hell, husband. 1. In religious beliefs: a place where the souls of sinners are surrendered after death eternal torment. The torment of hell (also translated). The road to hell is paved with good intentions (that good intentions are often forgotten, giving way... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Catchphrase- Winged words (tracing from the German Geflügelte Worte, which, in turn, is a tracing from the Greek ἔπεα πτερόεντα phrase found in Homer) is a stable phraseological unit of a figurative or aphoristic nature, included in the vocabulary from ... ... Wikipedia

We wanted the best, but it turned out as always- “We wanted the best, but it turned out as always” catchphrase, delivered by Viktor Chernomyrdin, Prime Minister Russian Federation On August 6, 1993, at a press conference, telling how the monetary reform of 1993 was being prepared... ... Wikipedia

BioShock 2- Developer 2K Marin 2K Australia Digital Extremes (Multiplayer) 2K China Arkane Studios (level design assistance) Publishers ... Wikipedia

We wanted the best, it turned out as always- “We wanted the best, but it turned out as always” is a phrase said by Viktor Chernomyrdin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation on August 6, 1993 at a press conference, describing how the 1993 monetary reform was being prepared. July 24, 1993... ...Wikipedia

hell- noun, m., used. compare often Morphology: (no) what? hell, what? hell, (see) what? hell, what? hell, about what? about hell and in hell 1. B different religions hell is the name given to the place (it is generally believed that it is located somewhere deep underground) where after... ... Dmitriev's Explanatory Dictionary

Books

Stealing darkness, Ksenia Bazhenova. Even several years later, Katya could not forget this nightmare: she got rid of the child at the request of his father! However, despite this, the girl, it seems, still continued to love Sergei... Stas...

There is a certain gap between intention alone and direct execution, and even more so when it comes to the right approach to accomplish this or that task. People sometimes seem to be motivated by good intentions, but they often lack either the strength or knowledge to behave correctly, as a result of which their good intentions are on the road to hell.

People often advise their family, friends, and acquaintances on what to do in a given situation, often condemning their behavior, repeating over and over again how they should have behaved. But finding themselves in a similar situation, these same people who have repeatedly given advice on what to do, unfortunately, are often themselves unable to follow the existing knowledge, since they lack internal strength.

One of the manifestations of a lack of strength is weakness of character, as a result of which a person is unable to behave correctly towards himself and the people around him. It is difficult for such people to say the word “No”; they can be very pliable, not showing due rigor when a difficult situation requires it.

A striking example of weak character is the pliability of parents who are incapable and follow their lead. Let's say that a child did something wrong, for which he was punished by his mother, for example, he was excommunicated from the computer for a couple of days. But on the same day, after some time, he began to beg his father to cancel this punishment, and, after briefly resisting persuasion, the father gives his consent. As a result of this behavior of the father, the child may not realize his guilt, and next time he will act in the same way, and the mother may not become an authority for him, whose word the father can easily cross out.

Or when a person tries to change the character of the people around him, especially close people, reminding him over and over again who is behaving incorrectly. It seems that the intentions of such a person are pure - the person’s behavior and character change, and everyone gets better from it. When, in fact, the deep, one can say the true intentions of such people - if they make anyone’s life happy, it’s their own, such good intentions are the road to hell. Yes, people often hide behind good intentions, that their actions are aimed at the benefit of other people, although often behind this lies only a selfish desire to improve their own lives. It is the people closest to us who want to make the most comments, and the desire especially arises to begin a cycle of moralizing when this or that person behaves incorrectly, when he begins to piss us off. Continuing to point out wrong behavior to others over and over again, most often without noticing that the people around are only increasingly deteriorating in their character - this is a direct road to hell.

The lack of correct knowledge is also big, there are many sources, a lot of advisers, where is the truth. Sometimes we have the strength to act in accordance with knowledge, but another question arises: do we follow that knowledge, do we act correctly in a given situation.

Let's look at an example with a donation. We are walking down the street and notice a beggar man, appearance most likely a homeless person begging for alms, without thinking twice we take out a couple of coins and give them to him. Few people would doubt the correctness of this action, but this homeless person, like many others, may be an alcoholic, and therefore most likely your money will go towards alcohol, which will be harmful to him. They seemed to have good intentions - they wanted to help a homeless person, but due to lack of knowledge this ultimately turned into evil. But ignorance is no excuse.

With this example, I wanted to show what ignorance can lead to, and not that there is no need to make donations in money or in any other form. You just need to know how to do it correctly - in this case, for example, you could donate food. You have a desire to help a person, then do everything wisely, waste your time, go to the store and buy something to eat if you don’t have anything with you.

Good intentions are the road to hell when we lack true knowledge and the inner strength to follow this knowledge; in this case, we can really cause a lot of trouble to ourselves and the people around us. But we should not blame others after our own wrong actions, and even more so, equate good intentions with good deeds, which, ultimately, I hope, will lead us not to hell, but to heaven.

P.S. This was my very first article on psychology, which was written on August 11, 2012.

Among the mass of winged phraseological combinations there are those in which deep folk or philosophical wisdom is hidden. Their use in speech often seems ambiguous and can cause intellectual debate. Some catchphrases and expressions of this type may even have several sound variations, but at the same time retain the same meaning. We will consider one of these phraseological units in this article. Let's find out its meaning and origin. We will also look at how this phrase is used.

Expression value

I have heard the most unexpected interpretations of the phrase about good intentions paving the road to hell. The closest to the true meaning is a point of view of this kind: some person is constantly planning to do something useful, kind, but things don’t go beyond these intentions - either there is no time, then there is no opportunity, then the turnover becomes boring. So these plans remain plans, that is, they turn into undone good deeds. Each of them is a cobblestone in the said pavement leading to hell. Because if the intended good deeds are not done, space appears for evil deeds, that is, for sin.

Often, good-natured plans may not at all relate to any specific matter in relation to another person - to help, look after, protect, but simply to become better yourself. These intentions are usually the most difficult to achieve. That is, you need to not intend to do it, but do it.

The phrase “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” is used in the case when, trying to carry out some completely humane thing, a person achieves the completely opposite result, often with negative consequences.

Expression Variations

The Russian language, like a living being, reacts sensitively to all sorts of changes and additions: words and their meanings change, familiar phraseological units begin to sound differently, then acquiring new meaning, then maintaining the content, but “dressing” in a new verbal form.

The authors of catchphrases, perhaps, do not claim such a title, having once uttered a phrase that will be famous in the future. Thus, a phrase about good intentions, leaving them and their “ultimate goal” in its composition, sometimes changes its verb form. Then the expression might sound like this: the road to hell is paved, paved, paved. This does not change the meaning.

The road to hell and the path to it can be paved or paved with these intentions, or hell is already paved with them.

There are also interesting variations. One of them goes something like this: “From good intentions (good intentions) the path straight to hell.”

Origin of the phrase and its variants

The history of popular expressions quite often refers us to different sources. So, according to one version, the phrase about good intentions goes back to the saying of the English writer Samuel Johnson, who once said: “Hell is paved with good intentions.” This is mentioned by his biographer, author of two-volume memoirs about the writer James Boswell.

However, there is another point of view, which attributes the origin of this expression to the 17th century Anglican priest and metaphysical poet George Herbert, for whom it sounds like this: “Hell is full of good intentions and desires.” This quote seems to emphasize the meaning of the Bible saying contained in the Book of Jesus. It says: “The path of sinners is paved with stones, but at the end of it is the pit of hell.”

The second assumption is considered the most likely, since the author seems to illustrate with this phrase one of the main points of Protestant ethics. Its essence is that true faith certainly leads to the creation of good deeds, and not to dreams of them.

Use of expression

The phraseology “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” is quite often used not only in literature and journalism, but also in colloquial speech. You can also hear an abbreviated, “proverbial” version of it: “with good intentions,” which implies the same ending with the same meaning.

As observations have shown, in the first, biblical sense the expression is used no less often than in “everyday life”. In the first case, the emphasis is on the fact that, according to the Apostle James, faith without works is dead, that is, unfulfilled intentions, no matter how good they may be, are the result of weak faith and block the road to salvation.

This point of view seems very attractive and quite justified. This phrase is missing the word “unfulfilled,” which should come before the word “intentions.”

And in everyday life, the opinion that when raising a child, you try to do everything possible and impossible for him is eloquent. With the best intentions. But a completely unworthy person can grow up. Therefore, before trying to do something “good”, it would not be a bad idea to figure out what is truly good for this or that person.

Synonyms

There is an interesting phenomenon regarding the phrase “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” A fairly ancient saying, and even having a religious connotation, unexpectedly acquired a synonym in the 20th century in connection with economic problems in Russia.

“We wanted the best, but it turned out as always” - this expression of V. S. Chernomyrdin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation, has acquired a synonymous meaning of the phrase about good intentions in the sense that implies a desire to do a good deed, but its result turns out to be completely opposite to what was expected . In this context, we were talking about the characteristics of the progress of monetary reform in the country in 1993. The phrase soon became truly popular and is often used instead of “good intentions.”

Conclusion

Catchphrases and expressions are born in the depths of life. The history of mankind is rich in many examples when seemingly good intentions led not only to opposite results, but also to tragedies. How many utopian ideas were invented, revolutionary programs were developed, parties were organized, some radical movements were carried out supposedly to improve everyone’s life. And in the end there were crusades, and Bolshevism, and fascism, designed to bring “happiness”, if not to all of humanity, then to the peoples or races “programmed” for it.

And from a theological point of view, the meaning of the saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” is that there are much more good intentions in life than the same deeds.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions
From English: Hell is paved with good intentions.
According to Boswell, biographer of the English writer, critic, essayist and lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), it is precisely because
the latter once said this phrase: “Hell is paved with good intentions.”
But she apparently has a primary source, which, one might assume, was well known to S. Johnson. This idea, although in a slightly different form, first appears in English literature by the theologian George Herbert (d. 1632) in his book Jacula prudentium. There he wrote: “Hell is full of good meaning and wishes.”
The words of George Herbert would become widely known in the 19th century, when in the novel “The Bride of Lamermoor” (1819) Walter Scott forced one of his characters, an English theologian, to repeat them, whose prototype was obviously J. Herbert.
Considering that in the Bible, in the book of Jesus, son of Sirach (chapter 21 v. 11) there is a phrase: “The path of sinners is paved with stones, but at the end of it is the pit of hell,” it is possible that Samuel Johnson’s phrase was born on the basis of this biblical image, and the thoughts of George Herbert.
Allegorically: about good but poorly executed intentions, which usually leads to the opposite result.

Encyclopedic dictionary of popular words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.

See what “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” means in other dictionaries:

The road to hell is paved with good intentions catchphrase in a number of languages, in particular in Russian and English. The phrase is used to refer to cases when attempts to implement the most humane and good goals lead (by ... ... Wikipedia

The road to hell is paved with good intentions- last about the undesirable or severe consequences of attempts to implement an attractive, but insufficiently thought-out plan...

HELL, ah, about hell, in hell, husband. 1. In religious beliefs: a place where the souls of sinners after death are given over to eternal torment. The torment of hell (also translated). The road to hell is paved with good intentions (that good intentions are often forgotten, giving way... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Winged words (tracing from the German Geflügelte Worte, which, in turn, is a tracing from the Greek ἔπεα πτερόεντα phrase found in Homer) is a stable phraseological unit of a figurative or aphoristic nature, included in the vocabulary from ... ... Wikipedia

- “We wanted the best, but it turned out as always” is a catch phrase said by Viktor Chernomyrdin, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation on August 6, 1993 at a press conference, telling how the monetary reform of 1993 was prepared... ... Wikipedia

Developer 2K Marin 2K Australia Digital Extremes (Multiplayer) 2K China Arkane Studios (level design assistance) Publishers ... Wikipedia

- “We wanted the best, but it turned out as always” is a phrase said by Viktor Chernomyrdin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation on August 6, 1993 at a press conference, describing how the 1993 monetary reform was being prepared. July 24, 1993... ...Wikipedia

Noun, m., used. compare often Morphology: (no) what? hell, what? hell, (see) what? hell, what? hell, about what? about hell and in hell 1. In various religions, hell is the place (it is generally believed that it is located somewhere deep underground) where after... ... Dmitriev's Explanatory Dictionary

Books

Stealing darkness, Ksenia Bazhenova. Even several years later, Katya could not forget this nightmare: she got rid of the child at the request of his father! However, despite this, the girl, it seems, still continued to love Sergei... Stas... e-book
Meeting over the abyss, Olga Yunyazova. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” – is this true? Or is it simply that the road to Heaven lies through thorns, which many confuse with hell? “Astrology is a pseudoscience,” Oksana thought until then...

Where does the expression “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” come from? Is it true?

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

This expression is now a proverb. Its closest source is the two-volume memoir-biographical book by James Boswell (1740-1795), “Life of Samuel Johnson,” published in 1791. The author claims that S. Johnson (Johnson; 1709-1784) said in 1775: “Hell is paved with good intentions.” The only difference is that the proverb talks about the road to hell, and S. Johnson talks about hell itself. Apparently, the author of the aphorism - an English critic, lexicographer, essayist and poet - relied on a saying made earlier by the Anglican priest and metaphysical poet George Herbert (Herbert; 1593-1633) in the book “Jacula prudentium” (lat.: “Witticisms of the Wise Men”) "): "Hell is full of good meanings and wishes" - "Hell is full of good intentions and desires."

All three statements are united by the common idea that desires and intentions alone are not enough for salvation. This is entirely consistent with patristic teaching. First of all, you must have faith: “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). According to St. Ephraim Sirina, “without oil the lamp will not burn; and without faith no one acquires a good thought.” There were so many utopias, radical movements, revolutionary programs, etc., in the world, the leaders and participants of which, without God and against God, relying on their fallen minds, wanted to bring “happiness” to humanity. History keeps a sad and tragic memory of this. Likewise, an individual person who is in the blindness of unbelief, wanting to fulfill his intentions, which seem good to him, often causes evil and pain to others.

Faith is necessary, but it must be correct. There can be many mistakes and misconceptions, but the truth is always one. People who are carried away by erroneous religious teachings are sure that they have good intentions, but the false spirituality in which they find themselves leads them to destruction. All religious substitutions are carried out with the participation of demonic forces.

St. John Chrysostom says: “Faith is like a strong rod and a safe harbor, delivering from errors of judgment and calming the soul in great silence.” However, the same ecumenical teacher warns: “Let us not consider faith alone to be sufficient for our salvation, but we will also take care of behavior, we will lead and best life so that both will contribute to us achieving perfection.” The Holy Fathers persistently emphasize that a Christian must have a spiritually enlightened mind. Without it, dangerous errors can occur. St. Anthony the Great considered reasoning to be the main virtue of a Christian:

“Reflection is the eye of the soul and its lamp, just as the eye is the lamp of the body; so if this eye is light, then the whole body (of our deeds) will be light, but if this eye is dark, then the whole body will be dark, as the Lord said in the Holy Gospel (see: Matt. 6: 22-23 ). By reasoning, a person sorts out his desires, words and deeds and retreats from all those that remove him from God. Through reasoning, he thwarts and destroys all the machinations of the enemy directed against him, correctly distinguishing between what is good and what is bad.”