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October 1, 2025

God Is in the Details

This has been bothering me for a while. The actual, original quote is “God is in the details.” It was remarked by famous architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The quote is beautiful and incisive. It means for anyone who has done artistic or technical work of any kind, that the details of a given undertaking reveal a certain elegance and beauty; the details can inspire wonder. One sees God’s fingerprints.

It is unsurprising that this culture took something beautiful and intelligent and made it ugly and stupid. Now we say “The Devil’s in the details.” This expression is vapid. It just means that the details are where one will likely get oneself into trouble—or encounter complexity. This strips the beauty and sublimity of the original meaning. But the priority in this culture is to be, above all else, cute. So, God got swapped out for the Devil. So clever.

There, I feel better. And what’s more, I’ve done God’s work.



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