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

Every project has been found to be no better than committing the lamb to the custody of the wolf, except that one which is called a balance of power.

John Adams

More information about this quote
Topic
Constitutional theory Political theory

Author

John Adams
Source
Letters of John Adams
Medium
Letter
Statement Type
Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
English
Time
1789 1780s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Adams, John. Letter to Roger Sherman. 17 July 1789.

Current Citation

Adams, John. "Correspondence with Roger Sherman and John Taylor." The Portable John Adams. Penguin Classics, 2004.

Another quote from Age of Enlightenment

The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jurymen may dine.

Alexander Pope

The Rape of the Lock

More information about this quote
Topic
Legal system

Author

Alexander Pope
Source
The Rape of the Lock
Medium
Poem
Language
English
Time
1714 1710s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Pope, Alexander. The Rape of the Lock. London: Bernard Lintott, 1714, canto 3, l. 21.

Current Citation

Pope, Alexander. "The Rape of the Lock." Alexander Pope: The Major Works, edited by Pat Rogers. Oxford University Press, 2009, canto 3, I. 21.