C’est le diable à confesser = It is terribly hard to do.
Il a le diable au corps = He is never still, quite unmanageable, very energetic.
C’est un air de porter le diable en terre = It is an air to conjure up the devil.
*Il n’est pas si diable qu’il est noir = The devil is not as black as he is painted.
[Or: Le diable n’est pas si noir qu’il en a l’air.]
Se démener comme un diable dans un bénitier = To rush about half-mad.
Loger le diable dans sa bourse = To be penniless. (See [Bourse].)
[“Et logeant le diable en sa bourse,
C’est à dire, n’y logeant rien.”
La Fontaine, Fables, ix. 16.]
Quand le diable fut vieux il se fit ermite = The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be, The devil was well, the devil a monk was he!
[Compare the Italian: