The Best-laid Plans Of Mice And Men Often Go Awry

Definition

Examples

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry Cultural

1. No matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it. The saying is adapted from a line in “To a Mouse,” by Robert Burns: “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As the Scottish poet Robert Burns coined, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

From Golf Digest

Well, as the saying goes: the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

From Seattle Times

“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

From Washington Post

In sports, “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

From Washington Post

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.