blissful ignorance

A pleasant state of unawareness of things that may otherwise cause one stress. Sometimes I just decide to ignore the news for a few days. I need some blissful ignorance every now and again. When it comes to what my kids end up eating at their grandparents' house, I don't ask questions. Blissful ignorance is key here. You must have blissful ignorance of how that food is made, or you wouldn't be eating it!

brute force and (bloody) ignorance

An approach or action that prioritizes strong physical force exercised without thought or consideration. You can't just fix everything with brute force and ignorance. Sometimes you need to use some finesse. The government's reaction to this can't just be brute force and bloody ignorance. Kindness goes a long way here, pal. You won't accomplish much in this town by relying on brute force and bloody ignorance.

ignorance is bliss

proverb It is better to remain unaware or ignorant of things that may otherwise cause one stress; if you don't know about something, you don't need to worry about it. The expression comes from a 1742 Thomas Gray poem ("Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College"): "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." Sometimes I just decide to ignore the news for a few days. Ignorance is bliss, I tell you. When it comes to what my kids end up eating at their grandparents' house, ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is bliss, OK, so please don't tell me what Mom and Aunt Mary are fighting about now. I don't want to be involved!

See also: bliss, ignorance

ignorance is no excuse

proverb Someone cannot use their lack of knowledge as an excuse for doing something wrong or illegal. A: "Officer, I had no idea there was a curfew around here." B: "Well, ignorance is no excuse." Ignorance is no excuse—you hit my car! And the Stop sign was there, whether you saw it or not! I know you didn't think you were doing anything seriously wrong, but that defense won't hold up in court. Ignorance is no excuse.

ignorance of the law excuses no one

One can still be held liable for breaking a law, even if they didn't know they were doing so at the time. I know you didn't think you were doing anything seriously wrong, but that defense won't hold up in court. Ignorance of the law excuses no one. A: "Officer, I had no idea there was a curfew around here." B: "Well, ignorance of the law excuses no one." Ignorance of the law excuses no one! The Stop sign was there, whether you saw it or not!

See also: excuse, ignorance, law, no, of, one

ignorance of the law is no excuse

proverb Someone cannot use their lack of knowledge as an excuse for doing something wrong or illegal. A: "Officer, I had no idea there was a curfew around here." B: "Well, ignorance of the law is no excuse." I know you didn't think you were doing anything seriously wrong, but that defense won't hold up in court. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Ignorance of the law is no excuse! The Stop sign was there, whether you saw it or not!

See also: excuse, ignorance, law, no, of

ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it

proverb Someone cannot use their lack of knowledge as an excuse for doing something wrong or illegal. A: "Officer, I had no idea there was a curfew around here." B: "Well, ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it." I know you didn't think you were doing anything seriously wrong, but that defense won't hold up in court. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it! The Stop sign was there, whether you saw it or not!

See also: breaking, excuse, for, ignorance, law, no, of

keep (someone or oneself) in ignorance

To ensure that someone or oneself remains oblivious to, ignorant of, or misled about the truth. Often followed by "of" or "about" something. The dictatorship has kept its citizens in ignorance of the outside world as a way of keeping them under control. The news just depresses me these days, so I prefer to simply keep myself in ignorance. The boss kept the entire team in ignorance about the company's mounting financial troubles.

veil of ignorance

1. A lack of knowledge about or insight into certain information that results in an obscured or misguided understanding of something. This new imaging technology will finally allow us to lift the veil of ignorance about the ocean bottom that we've been unable to shed for centuries. Political extremists are trying to draw a veil of ignorance over their supporters' eyes, clouding their judgment by ignoring or distorting the facts while fomenting their emotional reactions.

2. A philosophical thought experiment devised by John Rawls describing a hypothetical situation in which people are tasked with making choices about society without knowing their own gender, race, economic position, ideologies, etc., thus ensuring that any policy they choose will be necessarily equitable for all members of society. The veil of ignorance is meant to put people in the shoes of all members of society, to think about how our laws impact others as if we ourselves might be in their position in the future. Did I get that right, professor?

where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise

proverb It is better to remain unaware or ignorant of things that may otherwise cause one stress; if you don't know about something, you don't need to worry about it. From the 1742 poem "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College," by Thomas Gray. I feel like all the news in the world today is depressing, and the only way to get on with your life is to completely ignore it all. As they say, where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. Look, I know you get stressed about what the kids eat when they stay at your mother's house, but they're happy and have plenty of energy. When ignorance is bliss, it's folly to be wise.

willful ignorance

An intentional obliviousness to something that one knows to be true. I can't believe you're still smoking, despite knowing all the risks! Your willful ignorance just blows me away.

Ignorance is bliss.

Prov. Not knowing is better than knowing and worrying. A: I never knew that the kid who mows our lawn has been in trouble with the police. B: Ignorance is bliss!

See also: bliss, ignorance

Ignorance (of the law) is no excuse (for breaking it).

Prov. Even if you do not know that something is against the law, you can still be punished for doing it. (An ancient legal principle.) Police officer: I'm giving you a speeding ticket. Motorist: But I didn't know I was exceeding the speed limit! Police officer: Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it. Terry protested that he didn't know it was illegal to break the windows of an abandoned building, but the judge informed him that ignorance of the law was no excuse.

keep someone in ignorance (about someone or something)

to prevent someone from learning specific information about someone or something. I think we had better keep them all in ignorance about the money for a while. I don't know about her. I have kept my self in ignorance on purpose.

Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.

Prov. If knowing something makes you unhappy, it would be better not to know it. (Also the cliché: ignorance is bliss.) Ellen: The doctor didn't tell Dad that Mom probably won't recover from her illness. Do you think we should tell him? Bill: No. It would only make him unhappy and ruin their last months together. Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.

ignorance is bliss

What you don't know won't hurt you. For example, She decided not to read the critics' reviews-ignorance is bliss. Although its truth may be dubious at best, this idea has been expressed since ancient times. The actual wording, however, comes from Thomas Gray's poem, "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" (1742): "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."

See also: bliss, ignorance

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ignorance is bliss

People say ignorance is bliss to mean that it is pleasant not to know about something because then you do not worry about it. In the morning there were fresh footprints outside my tent but it was one of those occasions when I decided ignorance is bliss. I'm glad I didn't know too much about my eye operation — ignorance is bliss.

See also: bliss, ignorance

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

ˌignorance is ˈbliss

(saying) if you do not know about something, you cannot worry about it: Some doctors believe ignorance is bliss and don’t give their patients all the facts.

See also: bliss, ignorance

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

ignorance is bliss

It sometimes is better not to know one’s fate, or the outcome. Although the idea was stated by the Greek playwright Sophocles (ca. 409 b.c.) and quoted by Erasmus in the early sixteenth century, the precise wording of the cliché comes from the closing lines of Thomas Gray’s poem, “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College” (1742): “Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.” Both it and blissful ignorance became clichés in the nineteenth century, but the latter has died out.

See also: bliss, ignorance

See also:

References in periodicals archive

I know he must have spoken out of ignorance. The law is clear and there is no magic to it.'

Oyetola Chides Deji Adeleke Over Comment On Supreme Court Judgment

When a group of individuals are about to enter into a social contract - assuming that they are obscured by the Veil of Ignorance and therefore unaware of what kind of circumstances they will be born in - they fear that they will be among the most unfortunate (a generation subjected to damage caused by conditions such as global warming and financial collapse).

Future Design Research: The Issues

Issues like climate change give ample evidence to the willful ignorance of many of our leaders.

Vote for leaders who appreciate reading

Or, nous sommes peut-etre berces par son apparente fragilite, comme dans la citation souvent citee d'Oscar Wilde : [beaucoup moins que] L'ignorance est comme un fruit exotique delicat ; touchez-le et la floraison est partie.

L'ignorance volontaire: ce savoir de ne pas vouloir savoir

In "mapping the geography of ignorance"--the book's stated goal--DeNicola takes himself to be charting a relatively new field of inquiry, where scholarship is still in a germinal stage.

DENICOLA, Daniel R. Understanding Ignorance: The Surprising Impact of What We Don't Know

There are two kinds of ignorance: the first can be cured by experience and the second is terminal.

THE ORIGIN TRIP

class="MsoNormalCritics must be reminded that our education system was adopted from the colonisers yet, we have sought to improve on it to fight ignorance, poverty and disease mdash the common enemies identified at Independence.

Amina has to break the education reform jinx

To determine the primary culture and common morality of the people, the veil of ignorance experiment of the American philosopher John Rawls is summoned here.

Egalitarian / Self-worth and development

When people talk about politics, not just in Pakistan but all over the world, they more often than not display strong signs of strategic ignorance. This results in sweeping statements, willful distortion of facts and confirmation bias.

Strategic ignorance

It is though true that its open discourse only became possible after the Kasur incident this year with people wanting to take practical measures to put a stop to it but to say that such cases only increased after it, is not only naivety but also shows one's ignorance about the ills that plague our society.

Ignorance is not bliss

AUSTRALIAN entertainer Shane Jenek has said the ignorance of being shut off from the world in the Celebrity Big Brother house is "blissful".

Big Brother house is 'blissful'

The Renaissance Christian humanist and theologian Nicholas of Cusa (1401-64) called this self-centered arrogance "unlearned ignorance," the ignorance of those who trust in their human intelligence and who, through pride and presumptuousness, close themselves off to the path of divine wisdom.

Nurturing the cosmic perspective of learned ignorance

Only Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg made it through a haze of general ignorance.

No merit in ignorance

Ahsan Iqbal has stressed the need of the promotion of quality education to end the ignorance and backwardness besides putting the country on the highway to national prosperity and progress.

Ahsan stresses for promotion of quality education

The menace of quackery, or dishonest claims to being qualified for medical practice, is on the rise in Pakistan especially in slums due to ignorance of the public, shortage of qualified doctors, rude attitude of practitioners with poor people and low governance in the province.

Rise of quacks in slums and rural areas