Hell Paved with Good Intentions
Matti Lamprhey
I gather that the "road" bit may be a recent addition.
I searched this group on Deja and found a small number of posts on this
topic from last year, one of which (from Frank, of course) said that Boswell
had reported SJ as giving the roadless version but that it was at the time
already well-known. I'm told that GBS used the roadless version at least
once, and that Karl Marx may have added the "road". Anything definitive
known?
Matti
Robert M. Wilson
"Matti Lamprhey" <ma...@polka.bikini> wrote in message
news:8rs8dl$8dg$2...@taliesin.netcom.net.uk...
In various forms it is an old proverb:
"Hell is full of good intentions or desires."
-St Bernard 12th C.
"Hell is full of good meanings and wishings."
-George Herbert, (1593 - 1633)
"Hell is paved with good intentions."
- John Ray, 17th C.
"I shall have nothing to hand in, but intentions - what they say the wrong
place is paved with."
- J. Froude, 1847
"Sir, Hell is paved with good intentions."
- Samuell Johnson, 1775
The earliest known direct addition of 'the road' was Henry Bohn's collection
of proverbs, 1855.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
- Karl Marx (1818 - 1883), *Capital*
"Hell is paved with good intentions, not bad ones."
-G B Shaw *Man and Superman*
"With mere good intentions, hell is proverbially paved."
- William James, 1890
The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good
intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.
- Albert Camus, 'The Plague'
Sometimes 'path' is used instead of 'road'.
Matti Lamprhey
> "Matti Lamprhey" <ma...@polka.bikini> wrote...
> > I've always heard "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions", but
> > now I gather that the "road" bit may be a recent addition.
>
>
> "Hell is full of good intentions or desires."
> -St Bernard 12th C.
> The earliest known direct addition of 'the road' was Henry Bohn's
collection
> of proverbs, 1855.
>
> The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
> - Karl Marx (1818 - 1883), *Capital*
Thank you very much for that ultra-definitive response, Robert!
Matti
David C. Kifer
>
> "Matti Lamprhey" <ma...@polka.bikini> wrote in message
> news:8rs8dl$8dg$2...@taliesin.netcom.net.uk...
> now
> > I gather that the "road" bit may be a recent addition.
> >
> > topic from last year, one of which (from Frank, of course) said that
> Boswell
> > had reported SJ as giving the roadless version but that it was at the time
> > already well-known. I'm told that GBS used the roadless version at least
> > once, and that Karl Marx may have added the "road". Anything definitive
> > known?
>
>
> "Hell is full of good intentions or desires."
> -St Bernard 12th C.
>
> -George Herbert, (1593 - 1633)
>
>
> "I shall have nothing to hand in, but intentions - what they say the wrong
> place is paved with."
> - J. Froude, 1847
>
> - Samuell Johnson, 1775
>
> The earliest known direct addition of 'the road' was Henry Bohn's collection
> of proverbs, 1855.
>
> The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
> - Karl Marx (1818 - 1883), *Capital*
>
> -G B Shaw *Man and Superman*
>
> "With mere good intentions, hell is proverbially paved."
> - William James, 1890
>
> The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good
> intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.
> - Albert Camus, 'The Plague'
>
> Sometimes 'path' is used instead of 'road'.
FAQ, Sam?
--
Dave
"Tam multi libri, tam breve tempus!"
(Et brevis pecunia.) [Et breve spatium.]
tmw
them
~ Aldous Huxley 1894-1963, Time Must Have a Stop (1944)
The road to ignorance is paved with good editions
~ George Bernard Shaw
tmw
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