Not knowing the nutrition information about a slice of cake, so that you can really enjoy a well-deserved delicious treat. Not knowing about a recent sad and horrific news story right away, so that you can enjoy a happy moment with your family who is visiting from out of town. Bliss (noun): Bliss is defined as complete and perfect happiness, an immense, utter joy and contentment that typically means also being oblivious to anything other than that delight. Synonyms for bliss include paradise, euphoria, heaven, rapture, and ecstasy.

Not knowing that people are sharing untrue gossip about you, so that your self-esteem doesn’t plummet and you aren’t made unnecessarily sad and hurt. If Ignorance Is Bliss, Why Aren't There More Happy People?" is a book written by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson. The authors are known for their ability to unearth obscure facts, abstruse information, and amusing anecdotes, which they present in a witty and engaging manner. An idiom is an expression that’s intended meaning can’t fully be deduced just by looking at the words that comprise it. These words and phrases have a figurative rather than literal meaning. Even if you’ve never heard the term idiom, you have most likely heard many idiomatic expressions. Here are just a few of the most common idioms used today: Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. Meanwhile, Skepta is set to perform across Europe throughout the summer. These shows include a headline appearance at this year's Field Day Festival (7th June) which takes places at London's Meridan Water - a stones through from the Meridian Estate where Skepta grew up - and is set to be a huge homecoming show. He is also a headliner at this year's Manchester International Festival alongside Yoko Ono and Idris Elba & Kwame Kwei-Armah, where we will be debuting his truly unique, immersive DYSTOPIA987 show.No, the phrase doesn't suggest that knowledge is bad. It only highlights that in some situations, not knowing certain information can spare one from worry or stress.

Antagonist Records has reissued the classic Face to Face album Ignorance is Bliss on vinyl (for the first time ever!) in celebration of its 20th anniversary. If you took the first example literally, you’d think it was describing a person standing in a bathtub full of hot water, perhaps. But the expression is actually used to describe a person who’s in trouble. Likewise, rather than literally being handed a tool for chopping wood, if you get the ax from your boss, it means you’re getting fired. It’s time to face the music means that it’s time to come to terms with the consequences of your actions. And when someone has hit the nail on the head, they’ve gotten an answer exactly right or done something exactly as it should have been done. Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king's successor do than what has already been done? I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. Ignorance (noun): Ignorance is the state of being ignorant, or without knowledge, education, comprehension, or awareness. Synonyms for the adjective ignorant include unaware, uninformed, and uneducated. Yet ah! why should they know their fate? Since sorrow never comes too late, And happiness too swiftly flies. Thought would destroy their paradise. No more; where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise."

Ignorance is certainly bliss for someone who doesn’t know that his or her spouse or romantic partner is stepping out with someone else. Of course, that bliss will be short-lived when the partner who is being cheated on discovers the truth. If someone who is afraid of spiders doesn’t know there’s one living under the bed, ignorance would be bliss as long as the person is unaware that the spider is there. Hopefully, it never comes out to introduce itself! Grey's poem is quite famous, as is the phrase "ignorance is bliss" and much has been written on it, but the the core meaning is quite simple. While knowledge is often valuable, there may be situations where not knowing something can bring peace or happiness, as suggested by the phrase "ignorance is bliss." However, this is context-dependent and varies based on individual perspectives and values. Final Thoughts About "Ignorance is Bliss"

The idea presented by Thomas Gray and expressed in the stanza of the poem containing ignorance is bliss—chiefly that it’s sometimes better not to know one’s fate or the outcome of a given scenario—certainly wasn’t new at the time the work was written. It had been stated around 409 BC by the Greek playwright Sophocles and even quoted by the scholar Erasmus in the 16th century. What’s more, the similar saying what you don’t know can’t hurt you dates to around 1576. However, the first use of the precise wording ignorance is bliss can be traced to Thomas Gray’s poem. It has been used as a common phrase in the English language since then. Ignorance is bliss for someone who’s trying to start a new business but is unaware of all the limitations to their strategy. That ignorance may be just the thing that propels them forward instead of seeing only obstacles. The phrase suggests that not knowing certain information can lead to a state of happiness or contentment. The more knowledge one has, the greater one's grief, because this knowledge includes the inevitability of death, and that all we are and do and achieve eventually turns to dust.

Over time, though, Ignorance is Bliss gained a devoted following as fans gradually rediscovered its artistic strengths. To this day, a subset of Face to Face fans holds the album up as their very favorite. Although it remains controversial, it has earned its status as a classic in their catalogue. The phrase ignorance is bliss comes from the very end of the last stanza of the poem Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College penned by the poet Thomas Gray in 1742:

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. While the phrase might be used in such a context, it's generally understood that it does not advocate for wilful ignorance or the avoidance of critical or necessary knowledge.

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It’s important to note that literary scholars stress that Gray didn’t mean it is always better to be ignorant versus well-informed, pointing to his use of the word where preceding the phrase. They say that this suggests he only meant that there are particular times in which ignorance may be more desirable than knowledge. To Know or Not to Know—Is Ignorance Really Bliss?