弘法にも筆の誤り
こうぼうにもふでのあやまり
どんな名人でも、時には、失敗をするということ。
弘法大師のような書道の達人でも、うっかり書き損じることがあるということ。
どんなめいじんでも、ときには、しっぱいをするということ。
こうぼうだいしのようなしょどうのたつじんでも、うっかりかきそんじることがあるということ。
“Koubou nimo fude no ayamari” mean, “Even Koubou makes mistake with the brush.” It basically means “everybody makes mistakes.” Koubou refers to Koubou-daishi, the founder of the temple on Mt. Kouya, who was an expert at calligraphy.Though it has basically the same meaning as “Saru mo ki kara ochiru,” they are used in different situations. Whereas the other saying can be used for anybody making any mistake, “Koubou ni mo fude no ayamari” is used more for when a professional or someone who is supposed to be good at something screws up. Perhaps this should be translated as, “Even experts make mistakes.” You might use this if a doctor misdiagnoses a disease.
ChanomiTalk 
If does sound like a useful phrase and maybe some Japanese would be very surprised if I used this phrase, since Koubou is a famous Japanese calligraphy artist. Maybe I will try to use it sometime, but I am not exactly sure just when I will use it. Maybe I could use it if for example I was talking about sports and someone mentioned that they couldn’t believe Ichiro missed that play in baseball, then I might use Koubou nimo fude no ayamari. I can’t really think of a phrase that us Americans would use in this situation, maybe “even the best of the best screw up!”
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I dont think I would use this for myself, as I am not yet an expert as KouBou. Maybe when I’m playing my football video game with my friends, and I make an interception or a fumble, then I would use Koubou nimo fudeno ayamari, because I never lose at video games.
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