HomeServicesBlogDictionariesContactSpanish Course
← Back to search

Meaning of the road to hell is paved with good intentions | Babel Free

Phrase CEFR C2

Definitions

  1. Alternative letter-case form of the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
    alt-of
  2. Well-intended acts can potentially lead to disasters.

Equivalents

Examples

“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 building up the same type list they first wanted to avoid.”
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Or so many politicians in Germany’s three-party ruling coalition are now discovering.”
“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 unnatural craving of his stomach, continually required a stimulus, until he became a noted tippler.”
“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.”
“Europe is as ancient as history, and the world turns east to west, so it’s not to be unexpected that Jess Franco’s films are somewhat ahead of their time. And it’s hardly surprising that he has so often been condemned without first being understood because, as philosophers say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

CEFR level

C2
Mastery
This word is part of the CEFR C2 vocabulary — mastery level.

See also

Learn this word in context

See the road to hell is paved with good intentions used in real conversations inside our free language course.

Start Free Course