The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men,
Gang aft a-gley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief and pain,
For promis'd joy.

Robert Burns

More information about this quote

Topic

Making plans Dashed hopes Fate The unexpected

Author

Robert Burns

Source

To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With the Plough.

Medium

Poem

Language

Scots

Time

1785 1780s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Occupation

Poet Writer

From

United Kingdom Europe

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Burns, Robert. "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough, November, 1785." Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. Kilmarnock: John Wilson, 1786.

Current Citation

Burns, Robert. "To a Mouse." Robert Burns: Selected Poems, edited by Carol Mcguirk. Penguin Classics, 1994.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Robert Burns about making plans: “The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley, An' lea'e us nought…”
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A quote by Robert Burns about making plans: “The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley, An' lea'e us nought…”
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A quote by Robert Burns about making plans: “The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley, An' lea'e us nought…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Robert Burns

But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed,
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white - then melts for ever.

Robert Burns

Tam o' Shanter

More information about this quote
Topic
Pleasure The ephemeral

Author

Robert Burns
Source
Tam o' Shanter
Medium
Poem
Language
English
Time
1791 1790s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Burns, Robert. "Tam O'Shanter." Edinburgh Herald/Edinburgh Magazine, Mar. 1791.

Current Citation

Burns, Robert. "Tam O'Shanter." Robert Burns: Selected Poems, edited by Carol Mcguirk. Penguin Classics, 1994.

Another quote from the 1780s

The thirst after happiness is never extinguished in the heart of man.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Confessions (Rousseau)

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More information about this quote
Topic
Seeking happiness

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Source
Confessions (Rousseau)
Genre
Autobiography and memoir
Language
French
Time
1789 1780s 18th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Les Confessions [The Confessions]. Aux Deux-Ponts: Chez Sanson Et Compagnie, 1789, bk. 9.

Current Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Confessions, translated by Angela Scholar. Oxford University Press, 2008, pt. 2, bk. 9.

Another quote from Age of Enlightenment

A state without some means of change is without the means of its own conservation.

Edmund Burke

Reflections on the Revolution in France

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Read Reflections on the Revolution in France at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Seeds of revolution Revolution Political gridlock Politics French Revolution

Author

Edmund Burke
Source
Reflections on the Revolution in France
Genre
Political literature
Language
English
Time
1790 1790s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. London: James Dodsley, 1790.

Current Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Reflections on the Revolution in France." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009.