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.
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Give the devil his due
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give the devil his due
give the devil his dueGive 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
give the devil his due
Idioms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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Michigan Law's Yale Kamisar, a judicial liberal, said of Reagan: "Give the devil his due; it was a pretty good appointment."
From Time Magazine Archive
"Give the devil his due," was one of his favorite proverbs; and when he said that a thing "was not fair," it seemed to him a conclusive argument against it.
From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 3, October, 1851 by Various
Give the devil his due: not a bad chap—take him all round.
From The Dop Doctor by Richard Dehan
Give the devil his due; that's my principle.
From The Chainbearer Or, The Littlepage Manuscripts by James Fenimore Cooper
Give the devil his due, as we say in the proverb, but don’t give one iota of credit to that stingiest, and vainest of womenkind.
From William Shakespere, of Stratford-on-Avon His Epitaph Unearthed, and the Author of the Plays run to Ground by Scott Surtees
You’ve got to give the devil his due.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 8, 2020
Devil's Due Sirs: I notice some folks don't like to "give the devil his due."
From Time Magazine Archive
Both biographers, without concealing their dislike, try to give the devil his due.
From Time Magazine Archive
However, to give the devil his due, my illustrator has drawn other parts of the picture—especially the attitude of Mr Bhosh—with considerable spirit and fidelity to the Author's conceptions.
From A Bayard From Bengal Being some account of the Magnificent and Spanking Career of Chunder Bindabun Bhosh,... by Hurry Bungsho Jabberjee
In the case of punishment the Church was entirely willing to give the devil his due.
From Men, Women, and Gods And Other Lectures by Helen H. (Helen Hamilton) Gardener
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
