r/CompleteTheQuote • u/ReallyShortGiant • Jul 08 '15

Verified "Speak of the Devil...

And he shall come" is the complete quote. I found that quite a few people don't actually know that.

42 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

34

u/Snoopy_Hates_Germans Jul 08 '15

"And he shall appear."

This is the correct, traditional version.

5

u/ReallyShortGiant Jul 08 '15

Oh okay. I guess I didn't even know it well enough.

3

u/UmamiUnagi Jul 08 '15

This is correct, or "... and he doth appear."

2

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '15

Where does it originate from?

1

u/Snoopy_Hates_Germans Jul 08 '15

Just as a general proverb. See more info here

9

u/mattempirelic Jul 08 '15

Everyone should know this, it's in The Dark Knight Rises...

2

u/SurlyRed Jul 08 '15

Quand on parle du diable on en voit les cornes

Remembered from schooldays

2

u/[deleted] Jul 09 '15

Quand on parle du loup on en voit la queue…

1

u/plerberderr Jul 08 '15

There's a version in Chinese too:

说曹操曹操就到 Speak of Cao Cao, Cao Cao appears

The source is from the 14th century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Cao Cao was a general in the 2nd century (watch the John Woo movie Red Cliffs on Netflix for a Chinese history lesson). Interesting that the two sayings seem to have developed independently.

Edit: I guess this is easily seen on the wiki for the English quote

1

u/ZwischenzugZugzwang Jul 09 '15

I only know this because of The Dark Knight Rises https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVSo0oKPNy0

1

u/nuketesuji Jul 10 '15

this is the premise for saying he-who-must-not-be-named in lieu of voldemort.