English · Proverb Candidate

all is fair in love and war. (17th century)

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Any actions are justified in extreme circumstances

Literally: all actions are fair

Examples

She lied to get the job, but all is fair in love and war

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Topics: War & fighting

Common questions

What does “all is fair in love and war. (17th century)” mean?

Any actions are justified in extreme circumstances Literally: all actions are fair

Is “all is fair in love and war. (17th century)” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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