# Finding a quotation about the Devil **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2001, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-a-quotation-about-the-devil/89443 "2001-10-25T01:26:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-a-quotation-about-the-devil/89443/1 "2001-10-25T01:26:05Z")
I am looking for the origin of the quote that I think is supposed to go like this “The Devil cannot abide to be mocked.” Can someone help me find a good site(s) for a quotation search? I will be speaking against Fred Phelps and his hate speech next week at the City Council meeting here in Topeka, and I want to be able to give a source(if indded there is any). Thanks if you can help. ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-a-quotation-about-the-devil/89443/2 "2001-10-25T01:38:42Z")
Well I just put the quotation directly into google as a phrase and the first hit was “The devil cannot abide to be mocked” – CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters. Although it appears that he was borrowing from Sir Thomas More (16th century), who said “The devil…the prowde spirite…cannot endure to be mocked.” So take your pick. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-a-quotation-about-the-devil/89443/3 "2001-10-25T01:48:13Z")
Thanks **Gaspode**. I may go with Lewis, because to present Phred as a “prowde spirite” would kind of stick in my craw. When I have given speeches at council meetings I like to be prepared with a sort of “bibliography”, in case they try to call me out for making something up. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-a-quotation-about-the-devil/89443/4 "2001-10-25T04:24:35Z")
IIRC, Lewis uses that quote from More as an inscription to _The Screwtape Letters_. It doesn’t appear in the text or in his introduction. Along with the More quote, Lewis quotes Martin Luther as saying something like “If the devil does not yield to Scripture, jeer and flout him”. Re “proud”: pride (vanity) was considered one of the seven deadly sins. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-a-quotation-about-the-devil/89443/5 "2001-10-25T04:34:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baker \* > **I will be speaking against Fred Phelps and his hate speech next week at the City Council meeting here in Topeka** Yay, **Baker!** I applaud you! You go, girl! Give it to those Phelpses! Let us know how it turns out. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-a-quotation-about-the-devil/89443/6 "2001-10-29T03:03:35Z")
**DARN DARN DARN!!!** I just remembered that Tuesday the 30th is a fifth Tuesday, and so there will be no Council meeting that night. **#@&\*%** Now I will have to wait until November the 6th to speak against Phred. And I had just finished tinkering with my speech and had it all ready. I was getting all worked up and now I have to rein it in. Grrrrr. Oh well, I can keep on playing around with the speech some more. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-a-quotation-about-the-devil/89443/7 "2001-10-29T04:00:14Z")
[hijack] I read the OP really quickly and it made me think of the KITH sketch from their live tour… [death]Don’t giggle at death! I said…DON’T GIGGLE AT DEATH! You know what happens when you giggle at death, don’t you? Don’t you?..I…SQUISH YOUR HEAD, SQUISH YOUR HEAD,SQUISH YOUR HEAD![giggle] YOu! in the balcony! I squish your head! Hehe,[/giggle] It’s like mass murder![/death] [/hijack] Sorry. I just couldn’t help myself 🙂 But I agree the quote is from Lewis. Not that the fact that I actually knew that matters at this point! hehe