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the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
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
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.
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