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.
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.