Der Mensch denkt, Gott lenkt. Man thinks, God steers. The proverb has the same sense as a sentence in The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, from the early fifteenth century: Nam homo proponit, sed Deus disponit, for man proposes, but God disposes. The Kempis sentence echoes Proverbs 16:9, which in Luther’s translation reads: Des Menschen Herz erdenkt sich seinen Weg; aber der HERR allein lenkt seinen Schritt. (A man’s heart devises his way, but the Lord alone directs his steps.)