The road to hell is paved with good intentions
{{Short description|Proverb}}
{{about|the proverb/aphorism|the 2009 song by In Fear and Faith|The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions (song)|the 2024 Vegyn album|The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions (album){{!}}The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions (album)}}
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions" is a proverb or aphorism.
Meaning
A common meaning of the phrase is that wrongdoings or evil actions are often undertaken with good intentions; or that good intentions, when acted upon, may have bad consequences.{{Cite web |last=Callaway |first=Rhonda L. |date=August 2001 |title=Is the Road to Hell Paved with Good Intentions? The Effect of U.S. Foreign Assistance and Economic Policy on Human Rights |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2911/ |access-date=2021-03-24 |website=UNT Digital Library |language=English}} An example is the introduction of Asian carp into the United States in the 1970s to control algal blooms in captivity. Within ten years, the carp escaped and spread throughout the Mississippi River System.{{citation |last1=Kalman |first1=Izzy |title=Principle Number One: The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions |date=August 16, 2010 |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/resilience-bullying/201008/principle-one-road-hell-is-paved-good-intentions |journal=Psychology Today |series=Resilience to Bullying}}
A different interpretation of the saying is that individuals may have the intention to undertake good actions but nevertheless fail to take them.{{cite book |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/the+road+to+hell+is+paved+with+good+intentions |title=The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: The road to hell is paved with good intentions |publisher=Dictionary.com/Houghton Mifflin Company |year=2005 |edition=Third |access-date=March 28, 2013}}{{cite book |url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/the-road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions |title=Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus: The road to hell is paved with good intentions |publisher=Dictionary.cambridge.org/Cambridge University Press |year=2008 |edition=Third |access-date=March 28, 2013}} This inaction may be due to procrastination, laziness, or another subversive vice.{{citation |last1=Collis |first1=Harry |title=101 American English proverbs: understanding language and culture through commonly used sayings |url=https://archive.org/details/101americanengli00harr_0 |year=1992 |chapter=The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PGiREb_p238C&pg=PA33 |location=Lincolnwood, Ill |publisher=Passport Books |isbn=9780844254128 |last2=Risso |first2=Mario}} As such, the saying is an admonishment that a good intention is meaningless unless followed through.{{cite book |title=Psychosocial Basis of Health Care |publisher=Williams & Wilkins |year=1983 |isbn=0-683-00993-1 |editor1-last=Bowden |editor1-first=Charles L. |page=98 |editor2-last=Burstein |editor2-first=Alvin George}} This is consistent with another saying, often attributed to Edmund Burke: "the only thing necessary for evil to win is for good men to do nothing."
= Studies =
Psychological studies of the effect of intention upon task completion by professors Peter Gollwitzer, Paschal Sheeran and Sheina Orbell indicate that there is some truth in the proverb.{{citation |last1=Gollwitzer |first1=Peter |title=Advances in Experimental Social Psychology |date=2006-05-30 |volume=38 |chapter=Implementation intentions and goal achievement |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Qhwr7jGyFsC&pg=PA70 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=9780120152384 |last2=Sheeran |first2=Paschal}} Perfectionists are especially prone to having their intentions backfire in this way.{{citation |last1=Powers |first1=T. A. |title=Implementation Intentions, Perfectionism, and Goal Progress: Perhaps the Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |volume=31 |issue=7 |pages=902–912 |year=2005 |doi=10.1177/0146167204272311 |pmid=15951362 |s2cid=1623026}} A 2004 study argued that people are more likely to interpret their own actions as more well-intended than the actions of others.{{citation |last1=Kruger |first1=Justin |title=Actions, Intentions, and Self-Assessment: The Road to Self-Enhancement Is Paved with Good Intentions |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=328–339 |year=2004 |doi=10.1177/0146167203259932 |pmid=15030624 |s2cid=40554213 |last2=Gilovich |first2=Thomas}}
Attempts to improve the ethical behaviour of groups are often counterproductive. If legislation is used for such an attempt, people observe the letter of the law rather than improve the desired behaviour. The threat of punishment may make behavior less rather than more ethical.{{citation |last1=Messick |first1=David |title=Ethics in groups |date=2006-07-11 |volume=8 |pages=273–274 |chapter=The Road to Hell |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cEu7eyQEZPcC&pg=PA273 |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing Limited |isbn=9780762313006}} Studies of business ethics indicate that most wrongdoing is not due directly to wickedness but is performed by people who did not plan to err.{{citation |last1=Nash |first1=Laura L. |title=Good intentions aside: a manager's guide to resolving ethical problems |year=1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oV9wdAJWyG4C&pg=PA11 |publisher=Harvard Business School Press |isbn=9780875844299}}
Stephen Garrard Post, writing about altruism, suggests that good intentions are often not what they seem and that mankind normally acts from less worthy, selfish motives—"If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, it is partly because that is the road they generally start out on."{{citation |last1=Post |first1=Stephen Garrard |title=Altruism & altruistic love |page=203 |year=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195143584}}
Origins
The exact origin of this proverb is unknown and several variations exist. The first full version of the phrase appeared in an 1811 English version of one of Johann Jacob Rambach's books, "The road to hell is paved with good resolutions", a translation of his 1730 German text {{Lang|de|Der Weg zur Höllen sey mit lauter gutem Vorsatz gepflastert}}.{{Google books|id=dG5AAAAAIAAJ|title=Meditations and Contemplations on the Sufferings of Our Lord and ... |page=61 |text="road to hell is paved"}}{{cite web |url=https://digitale.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/vd18/content/titleinfo/1655568 |title=Johann Jacob Rambachs, Der Heil. Schrift Prof. Ord. in Halle Betrachtungen über das gantze Leiden Christi, Jm Oelgarten, vor dem geistlichen Gericht der Jüden, vor dem weltlichen Gericht Pilati und Herodis, und auf dem Berge Golgatha : Nach der Harmonischen Beschreibung der vier Evangelisten abgehandelt. Vormals eintzeln, itzt zusammen herausgegeben, Auch mit einigen Kupfern gezieret, und mit nöthigen Registern versehen |date=1730 |website=digitale.bibliothek.uni-halle.de |publisher=University of Halle |access-date=2022-03-05}} In a London newspaper in 1828 it was referred to as a Portuguese proverb.{{Cite web |title=2 Nov 1828, 1 - The Weekly Dispatch at Newspapers.com |url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/813446358/ |access-date=2022-04-11 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en |quote=These persons, illustrating the Portuguese proverb, that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, unhesitatingly embark to undertakings to which they are wholly inadequate...}} James Boswell's 1791 biography of Samuel Johnson quotes Johnson as saying to an acquaintance in 1775 "Sir, hell is paved with good intentions."{{cite book |first1=James |last1=Boswell |title=Life of Samuel Johnson |year=1791 |volume=II|title-link=Life of Samuel Johnson }}
The earliest known text resembling this phrase occurs in Virgil's Aeneid: "facilis descensus Averno (the descent to hell is easy)".{{citation |last1=Mawr |first1=Mrs E. B. |title=Analogous Proverbs In Ten Languages |year=1885 |chapter=Hell is paved with good intentions |publisher=Elliot Stock}} A resemblance can be found in Ecclesiasticus 21:11, "The way of sinners is made plain with stones, but at the end thereof is the pit of hell."{{citation |title=King James Bible |url=https://www.bible.com/bible/546/SIR.21.10.KJVA |website=www.bible.com}} Another resemblance also can be found in one Hadith that Muhammad said: "Paradise is surrounded by hardships, and the Fire is surrounded by desires."{{Cite web |last=Elias |first=Abu Amina |date=2010-09-16 |title=Hadith on Hereafter: Paradise surrounded by hardship, Hellfire by desires |url=https://www.abuaminaelias.com/dailyhadithonline/2010/09/16/path-to-paradise-or-hell/ |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=www.abuaminaelias.com |language=en-US}}
The proverb is often misattributed to Bernard of Clairvaux, who is claimed to have said, "L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs" (Hell is full of good intentions and wills),{{citation |last1=Ammer |first1=Christine |title=The American Heritage dictionary of idioms |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9re1vfFh04sC&pg=PA542 |year=1997 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=9780395727744}} in a letter by Francis de Sales ({{Circa|1604}}).{{cite book |title=Spiritual Letters of St. Francis de Sales|publisher=Rivington (London, Oxford, & Cambridge) |year=1871 |editor-last=Lear |editor-first=Henrietta Louisa Farrer}} See page 70, "Letter XII. To Madame de Chantal, on Temptations of the Will" (dated November 21, 1604).
John Wesley referenced the proverb in his sermon titled, "The Almost Christian", in 1741: {{"'}}Hell is paved,' saith one, 'with good intentions.{{'"}}{{Cite news |title=Sermon 'The Almost Christian' |work=WordsOfWesley |url=https://www.wordsofwesley.com/libtext.cfm?srm=2 |access-date=2023-08-13}} John Foxe quotes William Tyndale (1494–1536) as writing "Beware of good intents." The second part of "Chapter 213" of Acts and Monuments cites "Fol. 87" of "The Wicked Mammon".{{CN|date=December 2023}}
An earlier iteration "borrowed of" another language was "Hell is full of good meanings and wishes" and was published in 1670 in A Collection of English Proverbs collected by John Ray.{{citation |url=https://archive.org/details/acompleatcollec00raygoog/page/n33 |title=A Collection of English Proverbs |first1=John |last1=Ray |year=1670}} It was also published in Henry G. Bohn's A Hand-book of Proverbs in 1855.{{citation |last1=Bohn |first1=Henry |title=A Hand-book of Proverbs |url=https://archive.org/details/ahandbookprover01raygoog/page/n525 |year=1855}}
Another alternative form is "Hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good works".{{citation |title=Proverbs |page=234 |year=2007 |chapter=the road to Hell is paved with good intentions |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=9780816066735}}
Artistic references
Authors who have used the phrase include Charlotte Brontë, Lord Byron, Randy Travis, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott,{{citation |title=Milledulcia|first1=Robert Conger |last1=Pell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BvYkAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA89|page=89|year=1857}} Søren Kierkegaard,Kierkegaard, Soren. (2013), Kierkegaard's Writings, XVI: Works of Love, Princeton University Press, p. 94, {{ISBN|9781400847013}} and Karl Marx.{{cite book |title=Das Kapital The Production of Surplus-Value {{mdash}} Der weg zur Hölle ist jedoch mit guten Absichten |volume=One |chapter=Seven, Section 2 |first1=Karl |last1=Marx |author-link=Karl Marx |chapter-url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch07.htm |access-date=February 25, 2014}} Ozzy Osbourne used the term in the song "Tonight" on his album Diary of a Madman. Five Finger Death Punch used the term on their song "Living The Dream" for their 8th studio album released in 2020 F8
In the movie Highway to Hell, the phrase is taken literally to create one particular scene. The Good Intentions Paving Company has a team of Andy Warhols who grind good-intentioned souls to form the pavement. "I was only sleeping with my husband's boss to advance his career", says one.{{citation |title=Horror Films of the 1990s |first1=John Kenneth |last1=Muir |authorlink=John Kenneth Muir |page=236 |publisher=McFarland |year=2011 |isbn=9780786440122}} The figurative meaning of the phrase is a big part of the plot too, as several characters offer to help the two protagonists on the Road to Hell, but all of them have ulterior motives.
In the Discworld novel Eric by Terry Pratchett, as the wizard Rincewind and teenaged demonologist Eric Thursley escape Pandemonium, they notice that the individual cobbles on the Road to Hell have good intentions written on them. These included "for the good of the kids", "I meant it for the best" and "we are equal opportunities employers".
Lauryn Hill used the phrase "See the road to hell is paved with good intentions" in her 2002 song "Mr. Intentional" from her album MTV Unplugged No. 2.0.
Pink used the phrase in her 2006 song "Dear Mr. President" to refer to the No Child Left Behind Act.
Madonna uses this line in her 2008 single "4 Minutes," featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, off her eleventh studio album Hard Candy.{{Citation|title=Madonna (Ft. Justin Timberlake & Timbaland) – 4 Minutes|url=https://genius.com/Madonna-4-minutes-lyrics|language=en|accessdate=2017-07-20}}
Post hardcore band In Fear and Faith has a song titled "The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions" featuring Craig Owens of Chiodos on their 2009 album Your World on Fire. {{Citation|title=The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions by In Fear and Faith|url=https://genius.com/In-fear-and-faith-the-road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions-lyrics|language=en|accessdate=2024-02-06}}
Bruce Dickinson used this phrase in the song "Road to Hell", from the album Accident of Birth.{{Citation|title=Bruce Dickinson - Road to Hell|url=https://genius.com/Bruce-dickinson-road-to-hell-lyrics|language=en|accessdate=2021-07-02}}
The Chainsmokers utilize this phrase in their song "Good Intentions" featuring BullySongs.
The phrase appears in the fourth episode of the second season of Good Omens (TV series), it appears on a sign in Hell, saying "This office has gone 0 days without anyone saying 'THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS'."
Vegyn released his seventh original album, titled with this proverb "The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions" in 2024.{{Cite web |url=https://www.papermag.com/vegyn-road-to-hell-interview#rebelltitem2 |title=Witness Vegyn's Quiet Euphoria |publisher =PAPERMAG |date=2024-04-24 |accessdate=2024-05-26}}
See also
{{wikiquote}}
- {{annotated link|Do-gooder}}
- {{annotated link|Murphy's law}}
- {{annotated link|No good deed goes unpunished}}
- {{annotated link|Unintended consequences}}
- {{annotated link|Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad}}
References
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