abandon hope, all ye who enter here

abandon hope, all ye who enter here

A message warning one about a hopeless situation from which there is no return. The Italian version of this phrase appears in Dante's Divine Comedy as the inscription on the entrance to Hell. The phrase is most often used humorously. I'll never forget my first day as an intern and the sign above my cubicle that said, "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." Well, that board meeting was incredibly pointless and unproductive. We should have started things off by quoting Dante: "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." That spooky old house might as well say "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here" outside! Only a fool would buy it.

See also: abandon, all, enter, here, who, ye

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.

Prov. If you come in, be prepared for the worst. (Describes a hopeless situation or one somehow similar to hell. Often used jocularly. This is the English translation of the words on the gate of Hell in Dante's Inferno.) This is our cafeteria. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here!

See also: abandon, all, enter, here, who, ye

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.