Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Attribution ·267 of 348
"The devil is in the details."
They never said that.
What people say
"The devil is in the details."
What was actually said
"God is in the details." Various — Variously attributed to Aby Warburg, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Gustave Flaubert, c. 1880–1930
Why it stuck
The original phrase was affirming — careful craftsmanship, beauty in specificity. The "devil" swap reverses the meaning into a warning about fine print. Both forms now circulate in business English.
Warburg's seminar-room version, in German ("Der liebe Gott steckt im Detail"), is probably the earliest attested form. None of the attributed sources' archives contain the "devil" inversion.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.