give the devil his due

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give the devil his due (third-person singular simple present gives the devil his due, present participle giving the devil his due, simple past gave the devil his due, past participle given the devil his due)

1. (idiomatic, informal) To acknowledge the positive qualities of a person who is unpleasant or disliked.
   • 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]:

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

   • 1821, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 4, in Kenilworth:

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

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

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

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

     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.

• “give the devil his due”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.