English · Proverb Attested

man proposes, God disposes

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Things do not always work out as they are planned.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Mọi thứ không luôn xảy ra theo kế hoạch

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used American English

Man proposes, God disposes.Mưu sự tại nhân, hành sự tại thiên.

Tatoeba sentence #270367 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).

Common questions

What does “man proposes, God disposes” mean?

Things do not always work out as they are planned.

Is “man proposes, God disposes” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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