Not even the rule that the Devil should not have all the best tunes could save ‘Happy
Days Are Here Again.’ 2002 Times 23 July 17 The Devil may have all the good tunes, but
he was also, it appears, on the receiving end of one of humankind’s greatest puzzles.
good and evilThe DEVIL is in the details1978 Washington Post 8 July C7 There is an old German saying.. that the devil is in
the details. 1990 Automotive News 5 Mar. 1 Many issues remain unresolved. As one..
official put it, ‘the devil is in the details, and we don’t know what those details are yet.’
2007 Times 24 Sept. 6 I can’t decide if the hall is modelled on Hell or a bordello.. Red
floor, red walls, red everything. The devil may be in the detail but this year he’s also done
the decor. great and smallThe DEVIL is not so black as he is paintedCf. late 15th-cent. Fr. toutesfois n’est il pas sy deable qu’il est noir, a man is not always as
devilish as he is black.
1534 MORE Dialogue of Comfort (1553) III. xxii. Some saye in sporte, and thinke in
earnest: The devill is not so blacke as he is painted. 1642 J. HOWELL Instructions for
Foreign Travel xiv. The Devill is not so black as he is painted, no more are these Noble
Nations and Townes as they are tainted. 1834 MARRYAT Peter Simple II. x. Fear kills
more people than the yellow fever. .. The devil’s not half so black as he’s painted. 1953
A. CHRISTIE Pocket full of Rye xxiii. Lance patted her on the arm. ‘You didn’t believe
the devil was as black as he was painted? Well, perhaps he wasn’t.’ good and evil;
reputationThe DEVIL looks after his ownCf. 1606 J. DAY Isle of Gulls D4V You were worse then the devil els, for they say hee
helps his Servants.
1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 310 The Dee’ls ay good to his own. .. Spoken
when they whom we affect not, thrive and prosper in the World; as if they had their
Prosperity from the Devil. 1837 F. CHAMIER Arethusa II. i. Weazel was the only
midshipman saved besides myself: the devil always takes care of his own. 1940 R. A. J.
WALLING Why did Trethewy Die? vii. ‘The devil looks after his own,’ said Pierce. ‘Yes,