ignorance

An intentional obliviousness to something that one knows to be true. I can't believe you're still smoking, despite knowing all the risks! Your willful ignorance just blows me away.

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!

Prov. Even if you do not know that something is against the law, you can still be punished for doing it. (An ancient legal principle.) Police officer: I'm giving you a speeding ticket. Motorist: But I didn't know I was exceeding the speed limit! Police officer: Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it. Terry protested that he didn't know it was illegal to break the windows of an abandoned building, but the judge informed him that ignorance of the law was no excuse.

to prevent someone from learning specific information about someone or something. I think we had better keep them all in ignorance about the money for a while. I don't know about her. I have kept my self in ignorance on purpose.

Prov. If knowing something makes you unhappy, it would be better not to know it. (Also the cliché: ignorance is bliss.) Ellen: The doctor didn't tell Dad that Mom probably won't recover from her illness. Do you think we should tell him? Bill: No. It would only make him unhappy and ruin their last months together. Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.

something that you say which means if you do not know about a problem or an unpleasant fact, you do not worry about it I wish the newspapers would stop telling us about the dangers of eating meat. It seems to me 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."