ProverbWisdom
German origin1925
German origin1925The devil is in the details
Meaning: Small details can cause major problems.
Often credited to: Gustave Flaubert, without a firm source
Origin: It began as "God is in the details" — anything worth doing is worth doing thoroughly. That form is credited, without a firm source, to Gustave Flaubert, and the German art historian Aby Warburg used Der liebe Gott steckt im Detail as a seminar motto in 1925–26. The warning version, with the devil hiding in the details, appears in print by 1963.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, and German
French: Le diable est dans les détails (literally: The devil is in the details)
Spanish: El diablo está en los detalles (literally: The devil is in the details)
Japanese: 神は細部に宿る (Kami wa saibu ni yadoru) (literally: God resides in the details)
German: Der Teufel steckt im Detail (literally: The devil lurks in the detail)
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma; a rainha com raiva roeu o resto. An unstoppable 'r' trill drill — every key word begins or ends with the Portuguese r.
- Um tigre, dois tigres, três tigres tristes triscam trigo num trigal. A 'tr' cluster drill that adds a sad adjective to make the alliteration worse.
- O papa papava o papo do pipo; o pipo papava o papo do papa. A perfectly palindromic 'p' construction that reverses meaning when you swap the nouns.
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