You're at the back of the pack. The crowd is surging forward, elbows out, breath hot on your neck, and suddenly you realize nobody is looking back to see if you’ve tripped. That’s the core of it. When people talk about the devil take the hindmost meaning, they aren't usually literally talking about Satan snatching the slowest runner in a race, though that’s where the phrase started. It’s about a ruthless, every-man-for-himself philosophy that crops up whenever resources get thin or panic sets in. It is cold. It is efficient. And honestly, it is everywhere in our modern hustle culture, even if we use prettier words to describe it.
It’s an old idiom. Ancient, really. The first time it showed up in print was likely around 1608 in Beaumont and Fletcher's play The Knight of the Burning Pestle. They wrote, "Everyman for himself, and the devil take the hindmost." But the sentiment is probably as old as the first time two humans had to run away from a saber-toothed tiger. If you're the slowest, you're the snack.
The Brutal Logic of the Hindmost
So, what does it actually look like today?
Think about a stock market crash. When the bubble bursts, people don’t coordinate an orderly exit. They don't hold the door for their neighbors. They sell. They sell fast, and they sell hard, knowing that the last person holding the asset is the one who loses everything. In that moment, the devil take the hindmost meaning shifts from a metaphorical warning to a literal financial death sentence for the "hindmost"—the people who weren't fast enough or "in the know" enough to get out.
It’s about the total abandonment of the collective.
We see this in "Black Friday" stampedes or the way people behaved during the early days of the 2020 pandemic lockdowns. Remember the toilet paper hoarding? That wasn't rational planning. That was a "devil take the hindmost" reflex. If I get twenty packs, and you get zero, that’s your problem. I’m safe. You’re the hindmost.
Where the Phrase Actually Came From
Wait, let’s back up a second. Why the devil?
In medieval folklore, there was this recurring idea that the devil would occasionally chase a group of people—sometimes students of the dark arts, sometimes just a crowd—and he’d claim the soul of the very last person to cross a line or exit a room. It was a literal race for your soul. It’s grim. It’s dark. But it perfectly captures that primal fear of being the outlier.
In some versions of these legends, like those surrounding the Scholomance (a mythical school of black magic in Romania mentioned by various folklorists), the Devil would take the tenth student as payment for their education. The students would run to escape, and the one left behind became the Devil's permanent aide.
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If you’ve ever felt that spike of adrenaline when a job layoff is announced and you suddenly find yourself competing with your work-bestie for the last remaining seat, you’ve felt that 17th-century folklore in your bones.
Is It Just Competitive Spirit?
Not really. There is a distinction here that people often miss.
Healthy competition is about being the best. The devil take the hindmost meaning is specifically about avoiding being the worst, or the slowest, at the expense of everyone else. It’s a race driven by fear rather than excellence.
Look at how certain economic systems function. Historian Edward J. Balleisen, in his work on the history of fraud in America, touches on how "caveat emptor" (buyer beware) creates a "devil take the hindmost" environment. If the system is set up so that the least informed person gets cheated, the system incentivizes predatory behavior. You aren't just trying to win; you are actively leaving others to the wolves.
Common Misconceptions
- It’s the same as "Survival of the Fittest": Close, but no. Darwin’s theory (or at least Herbert Spencer’s interpretation of it) is about biological adaptation over time. "Devil take the hindmost" is an immediate, often panicked, social abandonment.
- It’s a compliment: It’s almost never a good thing. If someone says a company has a "devil take the hindmost" culture, they mean it’s toxic, cutthroat, and likely to collapse when things get tough.
- It’s only about money: Nope. It applies to social standing, health resources, or even getting onto a crowded subway car in New York City at 5:30 PM.
The Economic Shadow: Edward Chancellor’s Perspective
If you really want to understand the devil take the hindmost meaning in a business context, you have to look at Edward Chancellor’s 1999 book, Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation. It’s a classic for a reason.
Chancellor traces financial bubbles from the Dutch Tulip Mania of the 1630s through to the late 20th century. He argues that speculative manias always follow the same psychological path. It starts with excitement, moves to "irrational exuberance" (as Alan Greenspan famously called it), and ends in a frantic, "devil take the hindmost" scramble for the exit.
When the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720, it wasn't just numbers on a page. People’s lives were destroyed. Sir Isaac Newton—yes, that Newton—lost a fortune. He famously said, "I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people." That "madness" is exactly what we’re talking about. When the panic hits, the brilliant scientist and the common laborer are both running for their lives, and the devil is right behind them.
The Social Cost of Leaving People Behind
We have to ask: what happens to a society that adopts this as its unofficial motto?
When we stop caring about the "hindmost," the social fabric thins out. It’s the "tragedy of the commons" but with a predatory twist. If every fisherman decides to take as much as possible before the pond runs dry—devil take the hindmost—the pond dies. Everyone loses eventually.
Sociologists often point out that high-trust societies (like those in parts of Scandinavia) tend to perform better in the long run than low-trust, hyper-competitive societies. Why? Because when you aren't constantly looking over your shoulder to see if the devil is gaining on you, you can actually focus on building something that lasts.
Real-World Examples of the Sentiment:
- Ticket Scalping: Bots buy up all the Taylor Swift tickets in seconds. The fans are the hindmost, left to deal with the devil (the secondary market prices).
- Climate Migration: As sea levels rise, the wealthy move to higher ground. The poor, who lack the resources to relocate, are left to face the literal tide.
- The "Squid Game" Phenomenon: The entire premise of that show is a literalized version of this phrase. One person wins; the hindmost are eliminated. It resonated globally because many people feel like they’re already living in that system.
How to Avoid the "Hindmost" Mentality
It’s easy to get cynical. It’s easy to think, "Well, if everyone else is being ruthless, I have to be ruthless too." But that’s a race to the bottom.
Honestly, the best way to fight this mindset is through radical collaboration. It sounds like a buzzword, but it’s the only antidote. It’s the decision to hold the door open even when you’re in a hurry. It’s the choice to share information rather than hoarding it.
In a workplace, this means moving away from "stack ranking"—the controversial management practice where the bottom 10% of employees are fired every year. Microsoft used it for years and it famously stifled innovation because employees were too busy sabotaging each other to avoid being the "hindmost" to actually do any creative work. They eventually scrapped it in 2013.
Final Practical Takeaways
Understanding the devil take the hindmost meaning gives you a lens to see the world more clearly. You start to recognize when a situation is being engineered to make you panic.
- Audit your environment: If you’re in a job or a relationship where you constantly feel like you’re one mistake away from being "taken by the devil," get out. That stress isn't a motivator; it's a toxin.
- Build safety nets: Whether it’s an emergency fund or a strong circle of friends, having a "buffer" prevents you from falling into the "hindmost" category when life gets messy.
- Resist the panic: When everyone else is running, stop for three seconds. Breathe. Most of the time, the "devil" in these scenarios is just our own collective fear.
Don't let the fear of being last turn you into someone who doesn't care who they step on. The race is long, and as it turns out, the people who finish together usually end up much further ahead than the one who tried to outrun everyone else.
Stop checking the rearview mirror and start looking at who’s running beside you. That’s how you actually beat the devil.
Next Steps for You
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Check your current projects or investments for "bubble" behavior. Are you staying in a situation only because you're afraid of being the last one out? If the answer is yes, it might be time to develop an exit strategy that doesn't rely on panic. Evaluate your "social capital"—the people who would actually stop to help you if you tripped—and make sure you are doing the same for them. This shift from competition to contribution is the only way to opt out of the "hindmost" game entirely.