Karen Blixen - Isak Dinesen home

Question 71: Meaning of "When the devil grins at me..."?

Q. What is the meaning of Kasparson's remark, "I have lived long enough, by now," he says, "to have learned, when the devil grins at me, to grin back"(SGT 77).

A. The remark means, I believe, that when life delivers lemons, make lemonade. In other words, when bad things happen, try not to rail and grieve, but turn the events into something good.

Karen Blixen lost Denys Finch Hatton and her farm in Africa, but the result was a beautiful book, Out of Africa.

Copyright © 2003 by Linda Donelson. All rights reserved.