What does "He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon" mean? [closed]

I've recently read this quote somewhere in a book and I can't seem to comprehend it.

Solution 1:

It means that you should be very careful if you mix with bad people. The OED’s earliest citation supporting it is this slightly varied form from Chaucer’s ‘Squire’s Tale’:

Therfore bihoueth hire a ful long spoon That shal ete with a feend.

Solution 2:

At face value the logic behind this is that the devil, known to eat people, may just as well decide to eat you along with the food, and the only way to avoid becoming dessert is a with a long spoon to help keep your distance. More figuratively it describes the approach to dealing with dangerous adversaries.

Solution 3:

James Kelly, A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs: Explained and Made Intelligible to the English Reader (1721) offers this succinct explanation of the Scottish version of the proverb:

He had need of a long Spoon that sups Kail [broth] with the Dee'l.

He that has to do with wicked and false Men had need to be cautious, and on his Guard.

The purpose of the (figurative) long spoon is simply to keep as much distance between yourself and the Devil as possible, given the close quarters entailed in dining together—and indeed eating out of the same bowl. You wouldn't want to sit too close to the Devil because you never know when he might decide to try to grab you and whisk you away to Hell with him. Likewise, being in close proximity to wicked people is an invitation to injury at their hands.

Some background on early instances of the proverb and on its international reach

As Barrie England observes, a version of this proverb appears in Chaucer's "Squire's Tale." "The Proverbs of Chaucer, with Illustrations from Other Sources," in Scottish Notes and Queries (September 1893) provides additional coverage of early instances of the saying and of similar sayings in other languages:

"Therfor bihoveth him a ful long spoon / That shal ete with a feeend," thus herde I seye. Squires T., l. 602 >Compare:

He that eats with the devil hath need of a long spoon. —Hazlitt.

He needs a long-shanket spoon that sups kail wi' the deil.—Hislop.

Who dips with the devil he had need of a long spoon.—Appius and Virginia, 1575.

Yes, sir, the proverb says he that eats with the devil has need of a long spoon. I have brought you a ladle. —Marlowe's Jew of Malta, III. 4.

Marry, he must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil. —[Shakespeare's] Comedy of Errors, IV. 3. >This is a devil and no monster : I will leave him ; I have no long spoon. —[Shakespeare's] Tempest, II. 2.

Hazlitt says this proverb also occurs in Kemp's "Nine Daies Wonder," 1600, and in Overbury's "Characters," appended to the wife, a Jesuit is said to be "a larger spoone for a Traytour to feed with the Devill, then any other Order." The proverb is also found in the collection of Düringfeld and Wander (German), Fallersleben (Old Netherland Proverbs), Man (Danish), and others.

The proverb also appears in David Fergusson, Scottish Proverbs (1641) as

He should have a long shafted spoon that sups kail with the devil.

Fergusson died in 1598, so the recorded proverb is significantly older than the publication date in this instance.