Meaning of Idiom ‘Ignorance Is Bliss’
Ignorance is bliss means that if you don’t know about something, you will not worry about it and it will not hurt you; not knowing about something is better than knowing about it and thus worrying; what you don’t know can’t hurt you. 1,2
Sentence Examples
“I don’t like to read reviews of my books,” said the author. “Ignorance is bliss.”
“I don’t think about how the food I buy is produced. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.”
“I can understand why some people never pay attention to politics. The way things are going today, ignorance is bliss.”
“He hired a private detective to spy on his wife, fearing she was having an affair, but he changed his mind and decided that ignorance was bliss.”
Origin
Based on an old idea, the exact wording of this idiom comes from a poem by Thoma Gray, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1742):
Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.
References
- Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
- Spears, Richard A. McGraw-Hill’s American Idioms Dictionary. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.