accidents will happen in the best-regu- lated families

families No matter how careful you are, you may still do something by accident or mistake; often used to console somebody who has done such a thing: “‘Copperfield,’ said Mr. Micawber,
‘accidents will occur in the best-regulated families; and in families not regulated by
. . . the influence of Woman, in the lofty character of Wife, they must be expected with confidence, and must be borne with philosophy’” (Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1850). The proverb was first recorded in George Colman’s play Deuce Is in Him (1763) in the shorter form “acci- dents will happen.”
Variant of this proverb: accidents will happen in the best of families.