The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men – Meaning, Origin and Usage

Have you ever heard anyone say The phrase ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’ and wondered since when do mice make in-depth plans? The expression is an idiom, and I’ll be taking this opportunity to explain what the phrase means, and how it originated. Then I’ll cover some examples on how and when you can use the phrase, before giving you a handful of alternative phrases that you can use in its place.

And without further ado, let’s get straight to it.

What is the meaning of the phrase ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’?

The phrase ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’ is what is known as a partial idiom, or in other words an incomplete idiom. The full phrase is ‘the best laid plans of mice and men can still go wrong’. Sometimes the expression is shortened further still to ‘the best laid plans’. This version of the saying is more common.

The phrase ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’ is another way of saying that no matter how well you try to prepare for something, something could still occur, leading to possible failure, or a shift in plans.

What is the origin of the phrase ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’?

Perhaps surprisingly, the phrase ‘the best laid plans of mice and men does not come from the literary classic Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, but rather it is derived from a poem by the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns written in 1785.

The poem is about a mouse that builds a nest in its hopes for the future only to be met with disaster, and having all its plans amount to nothing due to extenuating circumstances. 

In the poem ‘to a mouse’ Burns wrote:

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men. Gang aft a-gley.”

When this is translated to modern English, this becomes:

“The best laid plans of mice and men can still go wrong.”

The phrase ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’ became popularised in 1937, by way of John Steinbeck’s classic novel ‘Of mice and men’, which features this very theme.

How and when can you say ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’?

The phrase ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’ can be used in both social settings and professional settings. Wherever plans are being made or have been made and there has to be a change of trajectory, due to something that hadn’t been taken into consideration when the original plans were made.

Here follows some examples of the phrase, and it’s different versions, in use:

• Nevermind mate, you’ll just have to take a different tack. The best laid plans and all that.
• Let’s just take it one step at a time and see how it goes. You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.
• We’ll review again in a month, or earlier if needs be. The project requires regular if not frequent review. The best laid plans of mice and men as they say.
• I worked so hard on this, put so much preparation in, and it amounted to nothing. I guess it’s true what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. 
• I was convinced the YouTube video was going to go viral. Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men. I guess we could try something different next time.
• I suggest we do it this way first, and then adapt our strategy as needed. You know, trial and error. The best laid plans of mice and men as they say.

What are some other ways of saying ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’?

There are several phrases that you can choose to use in place of the phrase ‘the best laid plans’. Here are some examples for you:

• What bad luck. And after all that preparation too.
• I knew something like this would happen. It’s ruined everything.
• Don’t beat yourself up about it. You couldn’t plan for something like this. 

Final word

So, to sum up, the phrase ‘‘the best laid plans of mice and men’, is a partial idiom derived from a poem by Robert Burns in the 1700s. The phrase refers to how, no matter how well you plan and prepare for something, something can go wrong unexpectedly at any point in time. This theme was used in John Steinbeck’s classic novel Of Mice and Men published in 1937.

The phrase can be used in any setting where there could be plans made, but no one really knows how things will turn out. There are many alternative phrases that you can use in its place.