If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.

Hear the wry and timeless wisdom of Woody Allen, who once said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans.” Though spoken with humor, this saying carries the depth of an ancient truth—a truth that echoes through scripture, philosophy, and the quiet chambers of every human heart. Beneath its wit lies the recognition that man proposes, but God disposes; that all our ambitions, designs, and blueprints for the future tremble before the mystery of divine providence. It is not a call to despair, but to humility—to live with wonder before the unfolding will of God, whose wisdom surpasses our understanding.

The origin of this quote, while often attributed to Woody Allen, flows from far older streams of thought. Long before his jest, similar words were spoken by sages and prophets. The French writer Alphonse Karr once wrote, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans,” and even older still is the sentiment found in the Book of Proverbs: “A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.” Allen’s modern phrasing captures the timeless human comedy—the irony that while we strive to control the course of our lives, life itself has other intentions. Behind the laughter of God lies not mockery, but mercy—a reminder that the Creator knows the path better than the traveler.

To say that God laughs is not to imagine Him cruel, but to suggest that He sees farther than our mortal eyes. We map our days with limited sight, measuring time and success by the frail standards of the world. Yet He, who sees the beginning and the end, knows that many of the things we chase would break us, and many of the sorrows we dread would save us. His laughter, then, is the laughter of a parent hearing a child’s solemn promise to “never fall again,” knowing full well that falling is how we learn to walk.

Consider the story of Joseph, son of Jacob, who dreamt of greatness and was cast into slavery by his jealous brothers. His youthful plans were shattered, his life thrown into chaos. Yet through betrayal and imprisonment, the unseen hand of God was shaping him for a higher purpose. Years later, when famine struck the land, Joseph rose as the savior of his people. The boy who once dreamed of personal glory became the man who preserved nations. If Joseph had told God his plans, the Almighty might have smiled and said, “My child, your dreams are too small.”

So too, history is filled with souls who learned this truth. Napoleon Bonaparte, at the height of his conquest, believed his empire invincible. He boasted that destiny itself bent to his will. Yet at Waterloo, his plans crumbled like dust before the wind. The forces that undo us are not always external—they are often the silent workings of providence, redirecting pride toward humility, ambition toward understanding. God’s laughter, though inscrutable, always leads us back to the lesson that control is an illusion and faith is the only firm foundation.

Yet this quote is not meant to strip man of hope or purpose. It calls us, instead, to balance vision with surrender. To plan is human; to trust is divine. We are meant to labor, to dream, to strive—but always with open hands, knowing that the final outcome belongs to a wisdom beyond our own. Discipline, effort, and faith must walk together. As the farmer sows the seed but cannot command the rain, so must we act boldly yet accept gracefully whatever the heavens decree.

Therefore, let this teaching be carved upon your heart: live with purpose, but walk with humility. Make plans, but do not worship them. Build your dreams, but do not chain your joy to their fulfillment. When the unexpected arrives—and it always will—meet it not with bitterness, but with curiosity. Perhaps the laughter of God is not ridicule, but invitation: an invitation to trust the unfolding story of your life, even when you do not understand its plot.

And so, O traveler upon the road of time, remember Woody Allen’s jest as a quiet sermon: the laughter of God is not the end of your plans, but the beginning of His. When your path changes course, when your certainties crumble, when life whispers “not this way,” do not despair. Lift your eyes and smile, for you walk not alone. The One who laughs at your plans is also the One who leads you home.