"Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in"

Temptation peers like an eye through a keyhole, curious but contained by a boundary. The image honors the reality that enticement often begins at the level of attention: a glance, a suggestion, a whisper that cannot cross the threshold without our cooperation. A closed door symbolizes agency. It acknowledges the presence of lure without granting it residence.

Yielding, by contrast, is hospitality gone wrong. Opening the door is not merely acquiescence; it is arrangement, clearing space, setting the table, letting the intruder define the evening. The moral drama moves from encounter to consent, from possibility to occupation. Vice gains power not because it knocks, but because we become its host.

The keyhole also suggests imagination. We entertain what looks in by imagining what might follow. That picture can be interrupted, by diverting attention, reordering habits, and replacing the scene with better guests: truth, patience, courage. The metaphor invites vigilance that is neither panicked nor naïve. Locking the door is not denial of desire; it is curation of what is allowed into the house of the self.

Small gestures matter. A second look, a rationalization, a delay in closing the door, these are hinges creaking. Conversely, preemptive choices, clear boundaries, honest confession, wise companions, thicken the door and shorten the visit of the tempter. The devil’s gaze may be inevitable; our invitation is not.

There is compassion here as well. People open doors not only from malice but from hunger, loneliness, fatigue. Guarding the threshold requires tending the interior: rest, purpose, and joy reduce the appeal of destructive guests. The healthiest “no” grows from a deeper “yes.”

Ultimately, the proverb locates the battle at the threshold of consent. Temptation tests the lock; character chooses the welcome. What we admit becomes what inhabits us, and what inhabits us shapes the home we become for others. Keep watch.