Les Jones

“The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled”

Tuesday, August 17th, 2004 | The Usual Suspects |

(Reader Tana sent in this post on the best-known quote from the movie. - LJ.)

On the commentary track of The Usual Suspects DVD, Bryan Singer mentions that the line “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist” is actually from Charles Baudelaire. I checked around on the web and learned that it’s from the short story “The Generous Gambler.” I found two links that have the story; one is the English translation (a pdf file); the other, the original French. Here are the links:

http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a0536.pdf
http://baudelaire.litteratura.com/?rub=oeuvre&srub=pop&id=167

The first link is the English translation; the second link is the original French. I don’t know if you read French, or perhaps you might not have time to read the whole story, but the original line in the French version is the last sentence (which is in quotes) of the fifth paragraph. The line starts with “Mes chers fr

1 Comment to “The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled”

Kev
September 3, 2004

You can also find an inspiration for this line from Goethe’s Faust Pt 1. In chapter VI the Witch calls Mephistopheles Satan. But he admonishes her and explains with pride that he has disguised himself so well over time that he has become only a name in fable.

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