What does 'a fool's paradise' mean?

Answer 1

"A fool's paradise" is defined as a state of happiness based on a person's not knowing about or denying the existence of potential trouble

Some people believe their personal problems (e.g. depression, social problems) will be solved by traveling or moving to a different place. That is a false hope, since by moving away, the person essentially remains the same, only the surroundings change. No problems will be solved, most possibly.

Thus, taking the aforementioned definition, this idea of moving away from personal problems, seeking a new personality somewhere else is a "fool's paradise".

One needs to change their soul, not their landscape.

Emerson is credited for this quote:

"Traveling is a fool's paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places. At home I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be intoxicated with beauty, and lose my sadness. I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea, and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from. I seek the Vatican, and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated. My giant goes with me wherever I go." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Another quote in this matter, gets the point through more easily:

"It's like the people who believe they'll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, but who learn it doesn't work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you." - Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book