A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

MAN is the measure of all things

Cf. PROTAGORAS in Plato Cratylus vi. man is the
measure of all things.

1547 W. BALDWIN Morall Phylosophie III. xvi. O6V Man is the measure of all

thynges. 1631 G. CHAPMAN Warres of Pompey & Caesar II. E2 As of all things, man is

said the measure, So your full merits measure forth a man. 1948 ‘H. BESTON’ Northern

Farm xii. ‘Man the measure of all things’. A good adage. 1980 Times Greece Supplement

15 Dec. p. iv. The belief that man was the measure of all things.. led the Greeks into..

new disciplines. human nature

MAN proposes, God disposes

Cf. early 14th-cent. Fr. car se li homme mal propose, Diex.. le dispose, for if man proposes
evil, God.. disposes of it; c 1420 T. A KEMPIS De Imitatione Christi I.XIX. homo proponit,
sed Deus disponit (see quot. c 1450 below).

c 1440 J. LYDGATE Fall of Princes (EETS) I. 3291 A man off malice may a thyng

purpose.. But God a-boue can graciousli dispose [determine] Ageyn such malice to make

resistence. c 1450 tr. T. à Kempis’ De Imitatione Christi (EETS) I. xix. For man purposith

and god disposith. 1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 1 Man Proposeth, God

disposeth. 1853 R. C. TRENCH On Lessons in Proverbs (ed. 2) iii. A proverb.. Man

proposes, God disposes.. that every nation in Europe possesses. 1958 L. DURRELL

Mountolive iv. 88 In diplomacy one can only propose, never dispose. That is up to God,

don’t you think? 1997 Times 9 Aug. 8 God’s will is not something to be commanded;

recall the saying ‘Man proposes, God disposes’. fate and fatalism; providence

MAN’S extremity is God’s opportunity

1629 T. ADAMS Works 619 Heere is now a deliuery fit for God, a cure for the

Almightie hand to vndertake. Mans extremity is Gods opportunitie. 1706 LD.

BELHAVEN in Defoe Hist. Union (1709) v. 34 Man’s Extremity is God’s opportunity...

Some unforeseen Providence will fall out, that may cast the Ballance. 1916 E. A.

BURROUGHS Valley of Decision viii. In the first winter of the war.. we were all much

encouraged by tales of a new thirst for religion among the majority of the men. .. ‘Man’s

extremity, God’s opportunity.’ 1949 D. SMITH I capture Castle xiii. ‘You should look in