1861 R. C. TRENCH Commentary on Epistles to Seven Churches in Asia p. v. ‘The
best is oftentimes the enemy of the good’; and.. many a good book has remained
unwritten .. because there floated before the mind’s eye.. the ideal of a better or a best.
1925 Times 1 Dec. 16 This is not the first time in the history of the world when the best
has been the enemy of the good;.. one single step on.. solid ground may be more
profitable than a more ambitious flight. 1960 D. JONES Letter 1 June in R. Hague Dai
Greatcoat (1980) III. 182 Tom told me a very good Spanish proverb: ‘The best is the
enemy of the good.’ 1981 Times 2 Mar. 13 To maintain that all that a school provides
must be provided free makes the best the enemy of the good. good thingsThe BEST-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agleyOften used allusively in shortened form (see quot. 1911). Gang aft agley means ‘often go
awry’.
1786 BURNS Poems 140 The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, Gang aft agley.
1911 D. H. LAWRENCE Letter 21 Sept. (1979) I. 305 I am sorry the bookbinding has
gone pop. But there ‘The best laid schemes’ etc. etc. 1996 H. P. JEFFERS Reader’s Guide
to Murder xxvii. 179 But, like the man said, ‘The best laid plans of mice and men often
go awry.’ intentions; wanting and havingThe BEST of friends must partCf. c 1385 CHAUCER Troilus & Criseyde v. 343 Alwey frendes may nat ben yfeere [may
not be together].
1611 G. CHAPMAN May-Day IV. 70 Friends must part, we came not all together,
and we must not goe all together. 1685 J. DUNTON in Publications of Prince Society
(1867) 10 But the dearest friends must part. 1784 J. F. D. SMYTH Tour in USA I. xxxvii.
Sooner or later, all, even the dearest of friends, must part. 1821 SCOTT Kenilworth I. xi.
‘You are going to leave me, then?’.. ‘The best of friends must part, Flibbertigibbet.’ 1979
W. GOLDING Darkness Visible ii. ‘Aren’t there going to be any more lessons?’.. ‘The
best of friends must part.’ absence; friendsThe BEST of men are but men at best