The devil is in the details. The devil is in the details, is this true?

Today, no one doubts that beauty lies in the details. This is especially true for girls. After all, you will never be able to create a harmonious image if you do not think it through thoroughly. Nice dress- That's not all. To catch admiring glances, you also need to do a good hairdo, manicure and put on heels. In this article we will lift the veil of secrecy and find out where the phrase “The devil is in the details” comes from.

Why details are so important

The thing is that it is difficult for a person to think through everything in advance. But a complete picture is obtained only when all the details are worked out. It seems that this only applies to artistic arts, but this is far from the case. Any creativity, be it writing, music or architecture, requires attention to detail. If you do not take them into account, then the books will be uninteresting, the music will be unattractive, and the houses will be unlivable. Why is this happening? Let's look at the book as an example.

The writer must not only work out the plot, but also think through the characters well. If he does not do this, then the author may contradict himself, or the characters in the book will be so unrealistic that their lives will not grab attention. And if the reader stops empathizing fictional characters, whatever interesting story no matter what, the book will be abandoned halfway through. The devil is in the details, and not only artists know this. Engineers, scientists, builders, designers, in general, people of any profession are forced to devote close attention little things so that the result of the whole project is at its best.

Origin of the phrase

The expression “The devil is in the details” was first published in the New York Times in 1969. There it was found in an article by the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

The architect was German by nationality, which suggests that the expression clearly has German roots. This has not been established exactly, but most likely the saying “The devil is in the details” is German folk wisdom. After all, if you think about the culture of the country, then everything falls into place. The Germans are very punctual and pedantic; unlike our compatriots, they like everything to go according to plan.

Meaning of the phrase

Every country has an analogue of this expression. In Russia, the phrase in its original form did not take root, and our compatriots slightly changed it. You can now hear the expression that “The devil is in the details” more often than the original idiom “The devil is in the details.”

The meaning, however, does not change from this. A common phrase says that if you don’t pay attention to the little things, then good result will not work. This means that it is the details that sometimes play important role and can ruin the whole project. An unforeseen maximum load on a part, a poorly sewn button, or an untested medicine - the damage from all these oversights will be different, but as a result, all these projects will end in failure. In the Russian language there is an expression “And so it will do,” unfortunately, many of our compatriots make it almost a motto in life. But everyone knows what “The devil is in the details” means and, accordingly, the consequences of their negligence are also known to everyone.

Let's apply the saying in life

It doesn't matter who said "The devil is in the details", the main thing is that this folk wisdom is now available to everyone. Of course, this does not mean that everyone uses it. Today, access to knowledge has become open, but, unfortunately, people are too fond of testing everything from their own experience. But it’s not so difficult - before starting any project, spend some time working out its details. In the future, this will definitely bear fruit and the “devil” will not wait for you around every metaphorical turn. If it is not possible to conduct a brainstorming session at the beginning of the project, then it is advisable to conduct it at least at the end. This way you can find your mistakes after the fact. This, of course, will be disappointing, but it is better if you find them yourself than someone else.

Paying attention to detail is not some kind of innate skill, but a habit that is developed through willpower. Every day you need to force yourself to be more focused. You don’t have to start practicing this kind of mindfulness at work, you can start with Everyday life. After all, many people are inattentive to such an extent that at breakfast they put sausage in the bread bin and bread in the refrigerator. Only daily practice will bear fruit and if all the details are provided, the devil will not hide in them.

The French have a saying: "The devil is in the details".

It is the details that determine whether the job will be done well or poorly. You can have an idea of what needs to be done in general outline- but the devil is in the details.

If you are preparing the most banal jelly, the result will greatly depend on whether you pour water into the starch, or pour the starch into the water - a mistake will lead to the fact that the jelly will be full of lumps. And a similar mistake when diluting concentrated acid - if you start pouring water into the acid, and not vice versa - can completely leave you without an eye. Such is the importance of details.

In marketing and sales, a lot depends on the details. Even if you know in general terms what needs to be done, small parts like a difference of one hour or a difference of one word can determine the success or failure of the entire action.

For example, the same presentation of a business book and an autograph session can give absolutely different results depending on whether this presentation is at 4:30 p.m. when the target audience while still at work, or at 17:30, when people in ties are just leaving work and looking into book Shop. And even more so it will matter whether this store is located in the business part of the city or on the outskirts.

Often people see that someone has achieved success with contextual advertising, promotions or a new project, and then they try to copy this success.

But due to a lack of understanding of how things actually work, due to lack of attention to detail, these people fail to copy even what was being done right before their eyes.

For example, recently one provincial blogger tried to copy a famous American mini-project. The author of the original project earned himself a villa with a swimming pool and a Lamborghini, and at the same time became famous. The imitator also made money - 30 or 40 dollars - and still does not understand why he did not succeed.

The problem is that, not understanding what the essence of other people’s success is, these people only try to copy external signs. Like the stupid hero from the story about the kung fu teacher and the student who did not understand why the techniques were not working for him - after all, he puffs out his cheeks exactly like the teacher. But they don't go into details. But the devil is in the details.

And if the project has an underwater part that is not visible, then turn out the lights completely. An imitator who is inattentive to details will not even realize its existence.

For example, one of my students uses guerrilla marketing techniques to stay afloat in a business where half of the competitors have already gone bankrupt and the other half are tightening their belts. For competitors, he advertises in newspapers, but in fact attracts clients in completely different ways, which he learned from my seminars. All competitors copy his advertisements in the newspaper, some word for word, some in meaning - and not one has even guessed that the secret of success is not in newspaper advertising.

When people talk about my book “More Money from Your Business,” even those for whom it helped increase sales by tens of percent, they are often surprised: "Hey, I knew all this before? What was new in the book?" And it was the details that were new. Those very details, those small details that a person missed before - and his advertising did not work, and sales did not go well.

Therefore, be attentive to details, gentlemen. And be doubly careful if you want to learn from someone else’s experience, be it a teacher or a competitor - or, conversely, if you are teaching someone. Be attentive to subtleties, to nuances, to small details, to intonation and gestures, to the title of the advertising module and to the color of the promoter’s cap, to the opening hours of the store and to the size of the “Buy” button on the site. The devil is in the details.

What small details are vital in your work?

“The devil is in the details” - so says an old French proverb, and it, like no other, expresses the full range of emotions of the book by the immortal author Johann Wolfgangt von Goethe.
I decided to read this book spontaneously, just like that, because before I had never, except school curriculum I haven’t read it. It was like a sudden impulse that brought me to the library to a bookshelf, to a nondescript book, in a nondescript cover, saturated with sadness and homeliness. But...
"The devil is in the details" - something in this book hooked me, or it poetic form, either the author of the book, or the desire to show off that I had read “such a cool book.” There was distrust, there were internal disputes, but still I took it.
And I was not mistaken. Hiding behind the monochromatic and gloomy cover, a wonderful plot, subtle emotional torment and completely unusual images for that time awaited me. Faust - main character books - this is a completely unusual person, thirsting for discoveries, experiments, thirsting to be on a par with God, it was not for nothing that he tried to summon the Spirit at the beginning of the book, but was disappointed in his gray and boring life, disappointed in science, in himself. He became the center of tangled lines fates, tangled in such a tangle, for the explanation of which you must read the book itself. He was surrounded by a rut of events, his beloved and the most charismatic, and by the way my most favorite character in the poem - Mephistopheles.
If we take into account that Faust means life and a symbol of a new era in the tragedy, then Mephistopheles, on the contrary, is death and simple. He is like a tenacious weed, trying to stop the restless Faust and say: “Stop, lie down, eat, kill life in your heart, break through “You are breaking your heart” - but Faust remembers that as soon as he stops, the cunning and insidious devil will capture his soul and drag him forever to Hell. And he fights, fights, fights.
In fact, Goethe’s tragedy is not a tragedy at all, but.....a comedy! Although it is not immediately obvious, and many will argue with me, comedy = tragedy + time, and time, as well as truthfully accurate injections, with a satirical slant Faust has enough of the devil.
“The devil is in the details” - Goethe’s tragedy is full of them. Is it possible, if you don’t look at the details, to notice that a person like Faust is dissatisfied with something? Is it possible not to notice in the details that it is precisely because of Satan’s cunning pricks , Faust lost his beloved? Really? In everything, in all of this, a piece of Mephistopheles is hidden. He is everywhere, he: "... is hidden in the details." - the devil is omnipresent and insidious, but nevertheless, he, with his eternal, often truthful conversations about the imperfection of everything that God created, and especially man, helped Faustus to understand - everything that God created is perfect. Man is perfect, nature is perfect, Mephistopheles is perfect too - Faust understood this, and for this he was taken up to heaven by angels, but they were taken up as equals, because God, who is ordinary literature after the death of Faust, he would have left him to be torn apart by the creatures of hell; in this tragedy he appeared as an all-forgiving God, who, like small child taught Faust to understand the Essence. The essence of his existence. And he forgave him, as a mother or father would forgive a child who had been playing too hard.
This book opened the world of literature to me, became a door into deep world books and now, thanks to this book, you are sitting and reading my essay.
This book should be read by everyone at any age, but you need to grow into it. Grow up spiritually.
You may not agree with me
You may not like my essay
Or maybe you just don't want to read Faust?
But you can read the immortal creation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Yes?
And take a closer, deeper look at this world.
Dig deeper into the deep-rooted foundations and principles that Faust so greatly shook
Notice what I didn’t notice and build my own picture of the universe.
After all....
As is known...
The devil is in the details...

The devil hides the details

The devil is in the details - you should not trust first impressions, draw conclusions based on striking facts, or take on faith information that seems worthy of respect. An objective judgment appears only with the study of everything relevant to the matter: including little things, details, the perception of which can radically change an already established opinion

But what exactly is the devil in the details, and, say, not the clumsy bear or the Snow Queen?
Because the devil, as you know, is a cunning, intelligent, insidious and mocking creature. Don’t feed him bread, let him make fun of human stupidity, laziness and gullibility. After all, delving into details, analyzing little things, collecting crumbs from the table of knowledge is a tedious, complex and long task. Rather than indulge in it, it’s easier to trust someone: neighbors, newspapers, TV...

Examples of details the devil is hiding

Six Day War

Fact
In the summer of 1967, Israel attacked Egypt and defeated it within six days in the so-called Six Day War.
Conclusion
Israel is an aggressor who must be held accountable for what they have done
Details

1967, April 7 - Air battle over the Golan between Syrian and Israeli fighters. 6 Syrian planes shot down. Israeli planes tried to prevent Syrian heavy artillery located in the Golan from shelling Jewish settlements located in the Galilee below.
1967, April 21 - Two weeks after the air battle, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR Malik said that Israel was putting at risk “the very existence of the state”
1967 May 4 - The Syrian Minister of Information stated: "(this battle will) be continued with more serious battles until Palestine is liberated and the Zionist presence ends."
1967, May 11 - Israel warned the UN Security Council that if Syria continues to provoke provocations (it moved heavy artillery into the demilitarized zone), it will consider itself entitled to resort to self-defense
1967, May 12 - The USSR Ambassador conveyed information to the Egyptians about the concentration of IDF forces near the border with Syria, although Israel did not begin mobilization. The ambassador’s telegram to Moscow sounded like this: “Today we conveyed information to the Egyptians regarding the concentration of Israeli troops on the northern border for a surprise attack on Syria. We recommended that the UAR government take appropriate steps." (UAR - United Arab Republic (Syria and Egypt)
1967, May 13 - USSR Ambassador to Israel D.S. Chuvakin visited Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and expressed to him “protest against the threatening concentration of Israeli troops on the Syrian border.” The stunned Eshkol assured the ambassador that no attack on Syria was planned, and offered him a joint trip to the north - immediately, right now, to see for himself. The ambassador refused.
1967, May 14 - Egypt began sending infantry and tank units into Sinai
1967, May 15 - (Egypt declared a state of emergency. Two tank divisions marched through Cairo and went to the bridges over the Canal
1967, May 16 - Egyptian President Nasser demanded that UN troops in Sinai relocate to the Gaza Strip
1967, May 17 - Nasser demanded the evacuation of UN troops from Gaza, Sinai and generally from the borders with Israel.
1967 May 18 - UN troops patrolling the 1948-1956 ceasefire line abandoned their bases in Sinai and Gaza
1967, May 18 - Address of the Egyptian General Murtagh to the army: “Egyptian troops took up positions according to pre-developed plans. The spirit of our troops is high, for the day they have been waiting for a long time has come - a holy war."
1967, May 19 - Egyptian troops entered Sharm e-Sheikh, settled in former places deployment of UN troops in Gaza and Sinai
1967, May 20 - General mobilization in Israel. School classes were cut short, buses were all sent to the army, bomb shelters were equipped with everything necessary, trenches and trenches were dug, realizing that the government would need money, thousands of citizens paid taxes in advance, a flood of donations poured into the Ministry of Defense, including jewelry and wedding rings
1967, May 21 - Nasser closed the Strait of Tiran to Israeli ships: “The Strait of Tiran is part of our territorial waters. No Israeli ship will be allowed to pass through it in future. At the same time, we prohibit the delivery of strategic goods through the Strait to Israel on ships of other countries.” The Gulf of Aqaba was divided between Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel, therefore, the strait could not be declared the territorial waters of anyone - this violated all conventions on the law of the sea
1967, May 22 - Egypt announced a military alliance with Iraq
1967, May 24 - Israeli Foreign Minister A. Even began a three-day visit to countries Western Europe and in the United States with a request to intervene in the flaring conflict. No result
1967, May 24 - Egypt began blockade of the Straits of Tiran
1967, May 24 - Jordan completed mobilization and opened its border to Saudi Arabian and Iraqi troops
1967, May 26 - Egyptian President Nasser, in a speech addressed to Egyptian trade unions, said that “the war, if it breaks out, will be total, and its goal will be the destruction of Israel.”
1967, May 30 - King Hussein of Jordan arrived in Egypt. He signed a joint defense pact with Nasser and placed his army at the disposal of the Egyptian General Staff. On the same day, Iraqi tank units entered Jordan and moved to West Bank, and Iraqi aviation relocated to the airfields closest to Israel. Saudi Arabia has concentrated its army on the Jordanian border in the Gulf of Aqaba. An Algerian expeditionary force was sent to Egypt.
In total, Israel was confronted by a united Arab army of 530 thousand people, which had 2,500 tanks and 940 combat aircraft. Armed forces Israel after general mobilization numbered 264 thousand people, 800 tanks and 300 aircraft
1967, May 30 - In Amman, the head of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), Ahmed Shuqeyri, said: “When we liberate Palestine, we will help the surviving Jews return to their countries of origin. But I doubt that anyone will survive at all."
1967, June 2 - Meeting of the Israeli government on the timing of the start of the war. It was decided that the attack would begin no earlier than Monday, June 5
1967, June 5 - Beginning of the Six-Day War. 40 planes took off from Israeli airfields and flew west, towards the sea. The first wave of Israeli aircraft spent exactly 7 minutes over Egyptian airfields. Three minutes later, these airfields were covered by the second wave...

Conclusion: the so-called “Israeli aggression against Egypt” is a consequence of anti-Israeli policies Arab countries, supported by the Soviet Union. The June 5 attack was a preemptive strike, without which Israel would have lost the impending war.

Collapse of the USSR

Fact
1991, December 8 - the heads of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, meeting in the Belarusian village of Viskuli, stated the cessation of the existence of the USSR
Conclusion
Yeltsin, Kravchuk, Shushkevich “ruined Soviet Union»
Details

The Estonian SSR declared secession from the Union on August 20, 1991
The Lithuanian SSR declared secession from the Union on March 11, 1990
The Latvian SSR declared secession from the Union on August 21, 1991
The Azerbaijan SSR declared secession from the Union on August 30, 1991
The Georgian SSR declared secession from the Union on April 9, 1991
The Russian Federation declared sovereignty on June 12, 1990
The Uzbek SSR declared independence on August 31, 1991
The Moldavian SSR declared secession from the Union on August 27, 1991
The Ukrainian SSR declared secession from the Union on August 24, 1991
The Belarusian SSR declared secession from the Union on December 8, 1991
The Turkmen SSR declared secession from the Union on October 27, 1991
The Armenian SSR declared secession from the Union on September 23, 1991
The Tajik SSR declared secession from the Union on September 9, 1991
The Kyrgyz SSR declared secession from the Union on August 31, 1991
The Kazakh SSR declared independence on December 16, 1991

Conclusion: the presidents of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia Kravchuk, Shushkevich, Yeltsin, who signed the Belovezhskaya agreements, did not collapse the Soviet Union, but only approved what already existed in reality

“The devil is in the details” is evidence that there is no single truth, no universal truth. There are many truths that depend on points of view, of which there are millions, that is, on those very details in which the devil lurks