ProverbCommunicationEnglish origin16th c.

Speak the truth and shame the devil.

Meaning: Truth-telling defeats deception by exposing falsehood's powerlessness against honest words.

Origin: The devil is the father of lies, so telling the truth defeats him. Shakespeare's Hotspur uses it to mock the boastful Welshman Glendower in Henry IV, Part 1: "tell truth and shame the devil." It was already proverbial in the 16th century; the preacher Hugh Latimer used it in sermons printed in 1555.

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