Clever as the Devil and twice as pretty.

The line is a compact, fairy-tale-inflected compliment that mixes admiration with warning. By pairing “clever as the Devil” with “twice as pretty,” it frames the subject as both dangerously intelligent and disarmingly attractive—someone whose beauty may distract from (or amplify) their capacity for manipulation, strategy, or mischief. The phrasing draws on folkloric and moral imagery common in Black’s work, where charm and peril often coexist, especially in faerie courts and morally gray characters. The quote’s punch comes from its balance: it flatters while implying that such gifts can be weaponized, making the person simultaneously alluring and untrustworthy.