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• Give the devil his due
  Give the devil his due

  Admit it when there is some good even in a person you dislike. This saying appears in Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes.
• give the devil his due
  give the devil his due

  Give credit to what is good in a disagreeable or disliked person. For example, I don't like John's views on education, but give the devil his due, he always has something important to say, or I don't like what the new management has done, but give the devil his due, sales have improved. [Late 1500s]

Give the devil his due

Cultural  

1. Admit it when there is some good even in a person you dislike. This saying appears in Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes.

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give the devil his due Idioms  

1. Give credit to what is good in a disagreeable or disliked person. For example, I don't like John's views on education, but give the devil his due, he always has something important to say, or I don't like what the new management has done, but give the devil his due, sales have improved. [Late 1500s]

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Example Sentences

You’ve got to give the devil his due.

From Washington Post • Nov. 8, 2020

Both biographers, without concealing their dislike, try to give the devil his due.

From Time Magazine Archive

Devil's Due Sirs: I notice some folks don't like to "give the devil his due."

From Time Magazine Archive

Besides," Miller hesitated, "let us give the devil his due.

From I Spy by Lincoln, Natalie Sumner

He weeps the three-fourth parts of the day, and never assists at any weddings; but, give the devil his due, he is the most industrious larding-stick and skewer-maker in forty kingdoms.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 4 by Motteux, Peter Anthony