Ignorance is Bliss

Have any of you ever heard this saying? Ignorance is a lack of knowledge, it means to NOT know something.

Don't ask him about world events! Ben's a pretty ignorant guy, he never reads the paper.

Bliss means ultimate HAPPINESS. It is like achieving nirvana in Buddhism.

When I eat delicious fresh food I am in a state of bliss.

When we put the two together in the expression:

Ignorance is bliss.

It means that sometimes when you DON'T know something you are extremely happy. If you know it, your happiness will be ruined.


I thought about this saying when one of my students told me about meeting a girl and who was incredibly happy about her boyfriend. She showed her boyfriend's photo to my student... ...who had been on a date with him after they started dating!


We usually use this when talking about other people. We see them being happy but they don't know something that will definitely upset them.

A: Ed's in a good mood today.

B: Yeah, but ignorance is bliss-he doesn't know he'd getting fired.

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C: Sally had a great time on her vacation.

D: Well... ignorance is bliss and when the cat's away the mice will play.

C: Huh? What are you talking about??

D: I heard her husband was seen all over town last week with a younger woman!

C: Oh no! I feel sorry for Sally...

Any questions?


Phil