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.

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  1547 W. BALDWIN Morall Phylosophie III. xvi. O6^V 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).

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  c1440 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. a 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

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  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 on the church if ever you’re mentally run down.’.. ‘You mean “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity”?’ 1980 Times 4 Dec. 17 Those extremities which have, until now, been often God’s opportunity. ■ necessity; opportunity