Hell is empty and all the devils are here. (William Shakespeare)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
The present situation is extremely bad or evil
Literally: image of devils being outside of hell
Examples
Hell is empty and all the devils are here
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Hell is empty and all the devils are here. (William Shakespeare)” mean?
The present situation is extremely bad or evil Literally: image of devils being outside of hell
Is “Hell is empty and all the devils are here. (William Shakespeare)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.