WIST Quotations https://wist.info Wish I'd Said That! Tue, 01 Sep 2026 17:13:43 +0000 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/little-w-little-box-60x60.jpg keep back – WIST Quotations https://wist.info 32 32 43606282 Shakespeare, William -- Comedy of Errors, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 65ff (4.3.65-66) (1594) https://wist.info/shakespeare-william/70037/ https://wist.info/shakespeare-william/70037/#respond Mon, 17 Jun 2024 21:52:26 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=70037 DROMIO OF SYRACUSE: Marry, he must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.


William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Comedy of Errors, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 65ff (4.3.65-66) (1594)
    (Source)

The phrase was popularized by Shakespeare, but had appeared earlier, e.g., Chaucer, "The Squire's Tale," ll. 602-603, Canterbury Tales (c. 1386):

"Therfor bihoveth him a ful long spoon
That shal ete with a feend," thus herde I seye.

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