The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (124 page)

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DEVIL take the hindmost

A shortened version of
EVERY man for himself, and the Devil take the hindmost
. A Latin version of this sentiment is HORACE
Ars Poetica
417
occupet extremum scabies
, may the itch take the one who is last.

1620
&
Philaster
V. i.
What if .. they run all away, and cry the Devil take the hindmost.
1725
Everybody's Business
29
In a few years the navigation .. will be entirely obstructed … Every one of these gentlemen-watermen hopes it will last his time, and so they all cry, the Devil take the hindmost.
1824
Tales of American Landlord
I. ix.
The troops .. hurried away .. with a precipitation which seemed to say ‘De'il tak the hindmost.’
1953
Foolish Immortals
vii.
Hannah grew up in .. a land of unlimited resources and opportunity for acquiring them and let the devil take the hindmost.
1980
Firestarter
67
His motto .. had been full speed ahead and devil take the hindmost.

self-preservation

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The DEVIL was sick, the Devil a saint would be; the Devil was well, the devil a saint was he!

Promises made in adversity may not be kept in prosperity. Cf. medieval L.
aegrotavit daemon
,
monachus tunc esse volebat; daemon convaluit
,
daemon ut ante fuit
, when the Devil was ill, he wished to be a monk; when the Devil recovered, he was the Devil just as before;
1586
J. WITHALS
Dict.
(rev. ed.) K8 The diuell was sicke and crasie; Good woulde the monke bee that was lasie.

1629
Works
634
God had need to take what deuotion he can get at our hands in our misery; for when prosperity returnes, wee forget our vowes … The Deuill was sicke, the deuill a Monke would be, The Deuill was well, the deuill of [
sic
] Monke was he [i.e. no sort of monk at all].
1881
Joseph's Coat
II. xvii.
A prisoner's penitence is a thing the quality of which it is very difficult to judge until you see it .. tried outside. ‘The devil was sick.’
1913
Small Boy
xxviii.
The old, the irrepressible adage .. was to live again between them: ‘When the devil was sick the devil a saint would be; when the devil was well the devil a saint was he!’
1959
Alice, where art Thou?
xii. 185
Laurie .. offers to do penance for his past, to make amends in the future … My father's comment is that the devil a monk was he.

adversity
;
hypocrisy

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Devil