Can somebody explain how this phrase makes sense? If you supposedly go to hell for bad behaviour, how can good intentions lead you there?
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Basically some political decisions where the politician doesn’t do something early on for what seem like reasonable choices can end up with a more aggressive or unpalatable decision later on because an early choice to intervene wasn’t made.
For me, it is particularly a caution against using self-righteousness to justify actions. Crusaders and witch-burners thought they were doing good and godly deeds for example. Many evil things have been promoted through “good intentions.”
For instance, your neighbor has cancer and has a year to live. You decide to surprise him by making dinner for him. You bring over a roast. He’s genuinely surprised at the gesture and welcomes you in. His dog jumps on you, knocking the roast out of your hands and onto the floor. Your neighbor slips on the grease and falls and hits his head on the fireplace. He dies from a skull fracture.
It’s often used to mean that people *intend* to do good things, but end up doing nothing beneficial – so it’s sort of used as a reminder to actually do good instead of just enjoying the idea or the intention of it.
But more commonly, it’s used to mean that good intentions can lead to people doing bad things. Almost nobody thinks that they’re a “bad guy.” Most of us will have an excuse for a bad choice that makes it seem good to us, or some reason why the bad thing we did isn’t so bad. Or that we meant well, but messed up somewhere along the way.
Many of the horrible, brutal leaders of history had intentions that, to them, were good – protecting their people, spreading their way of life, etc. – but which caused a lot of suffering or injustice in the world to the people that they were set against. No matter the intentions, it’s the action and the consequences that matter. That’s what that aphorism has always meant to me.
An alternative form is “Hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good works”
In plain language it means “Results matter, intentions don’t”
It means you can create bad outcome with good intentions.
Like give someone a fish and they can eat one day, teach them how to fish and they can eat every day.
When you wanna help someone you might do it for the short term but your help can be counterproductive for long term recovery.
Answer: Intentions alone don’t solve anything. If you’re only willing to do good but don’t ever do anything, what good did you do? It’s similar to “actions speak louder than words”
Also, it’s usually people’s excuse when they screw something up. “I tried to fix your sink with good intentions” but it’s more broken now than before.
Usually it means that people have a good goal in mind, but the way they go about it and the side effects are bad.
An example would be someone in government who suggests that anyone who gives birth needs to prove they have a safe home in which to raise the child. If they can’t prove that, they don’t get to keep their baby.
Depending on how they define a safe home, it’s likely that a lot of poor or disabled people would have their babies forcibly taken from them. If the majority of poor people in the area are the same ethnicity, then the government will end up taking the children of one race and giving them to a different race.
All of a sudden, this government person who wanted to protect children is responsible for a eugenics program. That’s how you get to hell by trying to do something that seems good
This phrase is more of a warning about how one achieves a result. It is not difficult to get caught up in bad actions when you are working towards a good goal. For example, suppose you want to donate money to your favorite charity. The only problem is you don’t have any money to donate. So instead of working more hours or cutting back your expenses, you decide to rob a gas station. While robbing the gas station, you have to shoot the cashier. You have committed two crimes (bad actions) just so you could help out your favorite charity (good intention).
It means intending to do good things is useless, sometimes even harmful.
Only actually doing good results in good things.
It’s a warning against small mindedness and laziness.
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