The phrase is the title of a book by John Steinbeck, written in 1937.Although written in the then contemporary context of the Californian Great Depression, the dramatic turns in the plot echo a certain truism of human expereience, as aptly expressed by poet Robert Burns:"The best laid plansOf mice and menOften go awry"(from his Poem 'To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With A Plough' 1725)For full text of poem, see Related links below this box.