the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From a Scots poem by Robert Burns, To a Mouse. In the original Scots, the lines are, “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley”.
Proverb
[edit]the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry
- No matter how well a project is planned, accidents or misfortune can still occur.
- 1785, Robert Burns, To a Mouse:
- But mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
- 1971, Neal Cassady, “Letter to Jack Kerouac, March 7, 1947”, in The First Third, City Lights, page 125:
- Knowing her supremely perfect being was completely mine […] I could conceive of no obstacle to my satisfaction, well, “the best laid plans of mice & men go astray” and my nemesis was her sister, the bitch.