young saint, old devil. (15th century)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
People often behave better when young and worsen with age
Literally: a young saint and an old devil
Examples
He was a model student, but now they say he's a perfect example of a young saint, old devil
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 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “young saint, old devil. (15th century)” mean?
People often behave better when young and worsen with age Literally: a young saint and an old devil
Is “young saint, old devil. (15th century)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.