A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

The DEVIL is in the details

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  1978 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 small
  

The DEVIL is not so black as he is painted
Cf. 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.

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  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; reputation
  

The DEVIL looks after his own
Cf. 1606 J. DAY Isle of Gulls D4^V You were worse then the devil els, for they say hee helps his Servants.

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  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, doesn’t he? But even he’s not so clever, either.’ 1985 B. KNOX Wavecrest vii. 140 He saw Andy Grey’s worried face and winked at him. ‘Cheer up. The devil looks after his own.’ ^associates; good fortune