give the devil his due

present singular third person gives the devil his due · participle present giving the devil his due · past gave the devil his due · participle past given the devil his due

1. idiomaticinformalTo acknowledge the positive qualities of a person who is unpleasant or disliked.

   Yet give the devil his due; Says grace before he doth a deed of villainy.

   1821, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 4, in Kenilworth

   3 more examples

   […]for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs: he will give the devil his due.

   c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

   And to give the devil his due he's finer than ever. Too damn fine for this crowd!

   1922, Zane Grey, chapter 5, in The Day of the Beast

   We are obliged, at least this once, to give the devil his due — and to consider the possibility that he may even be, in this instance, the angel of bleak truthfulness.

   2007 April 5, Richard Schickel, "The Fog of War Resistance" (film review), Time