the scales fall from your eyes

To suddenly be able to see a situation clearly and accurately. I used to be so in love with Andrew, but now that we've broken up, the scales have fallen from my eyes, and I can see how selfish he truly is! Once you start working somewhere new, it doesn't take long until the scales fall from your eyes, and you can see all of the problems of your "perfect" new job.

If the scales fall from your eyes, you suddenly realise the truth about something after a long period of not understanding it or of being deceived about it. It was at that point that the scales finally fell from his eyes and he realised he had made a dreadful mistake. Note: This is a reference to the Bible story of Saul, who became blind after he had a vision of God on the road to Damascus. Saul became a Christian after Ananias, a follower of Jesus, restored his sight. The Bible says: `And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.' (Acts 9:18)