To know all is to forgive all.

[Sifuu]

Please explain this idiom ??

[pyoung]

Dear Sifuu:

It means that once we fully and deeply understand the circumstances and intentions of a person's actions, we will forgive them for what they have done.

I hope this is helpful,

Petra

[Sifuu]

Thanks it helped a lot

[Torrance88]

I'd just like to note that this is pretty much the exact opposite of what is meant by 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'. Of course 'to know all is to forgive all' does admit to the damage being done by good intentions, but still it's interesting how so many 'truths' in expressions and sayings are formed that they start to cancel each other out.

This expression doesn't sound right to me, no matter how much we hear someone apologizing, there are still times we can't bring ourselves to forgive and forget.