Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Book ·145 of 348
"Idle hands are the devil's workshop."
They never said that.
What people say
"Idle hands are the devil's workshop."
What was actually said
Fac et aliquid operis, ut semper te diabolus inveniat occupatum. — Always do some work, so the devil may find you occupied. St Jerome — St Jerome, Letter 125, c. AD 411
Why it stuck
Often cited as biblical; Jerome's Latin counsel to a young monk is the earliest recorded form. The "workshop" image is Chaucer's addition in The Tale of Melibee (c. 1386): "the ydel man… is the develes chaumbre."
Neither the exact English idiom nor the "workshop" noun appears in the Authorized Version of 1611.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.