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.

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!

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."

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.

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.