the road to hell is paved with good intentions
the road to hell is paved with good intentions proverb: well-intended acts can potentially lead to disasters.
Proverb (1)
the road to hell is paved with good intentions
- Well-intended acts can potentially lead to disasters.
- The road to literary hell is paved with the good intentions of publishers who start out saying "I'm gonna do it right; I'm not gonna screw up like Alyson or Gay Sunshine." Several projects later, these publishers are turning down the same "good material" that Alyson and Gay Sunshine did and...1987 February 1, T. R. Witomski, “Zeitgeist or Poltergeist? Why Gay Books Are So Bad”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 28, page 8
- The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Or so many politicians in Germany’s three-party ruling coalition are now discovering.2023 September 7, Hans von der Burchard, “How heat pumps exploded Germany’s ruling coalition”, in POLITICO, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2023
Proverb (2) capitalized: the road to Hell is paved with good intentions
the road to Hell is paved with good intentions
- Alternative letter-case form of the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
- Ever resolving that this should be his last frolic, (to call it by no harsher name) he but afforded another proof of the old saying, that “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” From drinking at night he soon began to take his morning dram, a morbid appetite was thus engendered, and the...1846 February 5, W. N. M., “Original. The Temperance Meeting; or Night and Morning.”, in The New Era, volume I, number 149, Portsmouth, Va.: A. F. Cunningham, →ISSN, front page, column 5
- Fifth, there should be more trust in the frequent good intentions of mankind which do sometimes get implemented. There is no more vicious proverb than the one which asserts that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.1952, Charles Seltman, “Olympus”, in The Twelve Olympians, London: Pan Books Ltd., →OCLC, page 189
the road to hell is paved with good intentions meaning in Arabic and Vietnamese
the road to hell is paved with good intentions in Arabic
- well-intended acts can lead to disasters
- الطَّرِيق إلَى الْجَهَنَّم مُمَهَّد بِالنَّوَايَا الْحَسَنَة aṭ-ṭarīq ʔilā l-jahannam mumahhad bi-n-nawāyā l-ḥasana
the road to hell is paved with good intentions in Vietnamese
- well-intended acts can lead to disasters
- đường đến địa ngục được lát bằng thiện tâm, mật ngọt chết ruồi
Synonyms of the road to hell is paved with good intentions
Forms of the road to hell is paved with good intentions
| alternative form | the road to Hell is paved with good intentions |
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Origin of the road to hell is paved with good intentions
Semantic loan from Hebrew הדרך לגיהנום רצופה כוונות טובות.
Words formed from the road to hell is paved with good intentions
Questions about the road to hell is paved with good intentions
- What does the road to hell is paved with good intentions mean?
- The road to hell is paved with good intentions means well-intended acts can potentially lead to disasters.
- What is the road to hell is paved with good intentions in Arabic?
- The road to hell is paved with good intentions in Arabic is الطَّرِيق إلَى الْجَهَنَّم مُمَهَّد بِالنَّوَايَا الْحَسَنَة (aṭ-ṭarīq ʔilā l-jahannam mumahhad bi-n-nawāyā l-ḥasana). See The road to hell is paved with good intentions meaning in Arabic.
- What part of speech is the road to hell is paved with good intentions?
- The road to hell is paved with good intentions is a proverb.
Words near the road to hell is paved with good intentions in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: the road to hell is paved with good intentions (page history and authors); the road to Hell is paved with good intentions (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-the road to hell is paved with good intentions.wav.
Cite this entry: “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/the_road_to_hell_is_paved_with_good_intentions. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.