Quotes about fairness
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“You can't dwell on what might have been… and it's not fair to condemn him for something he hasn't done.”

Source: Flipped

“It is good to dress in fair clothes to dine with friends. It honors your host, if you are a guest; and your guest if you are a host. And both adorn the feast, and so celebrate the gifts of the world.”

Alison Croggon (1962) contemporary Australian poet, playwright and fantasy novelist

World, Clothes

“The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits;—on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!”

Matthew Arnold Dover Beach

St. 1
Dover Beach (1867)
Source: Dover Beach and Other Poems

Light, Sea, Night

“And her slender white neck was bowed over her book, the fair hair falling on either side of it”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: The Awakening

Books

“This was not judgement day — only morning. Morning: excellent and fair.”

William Styron book Sophie's Choice

Last lines
Source: Sophie's Choice (1979)

“If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

Fight

“Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer

Children, Thinking, Relationship, For Parents

“Yes, and for the record, he thinks you’re insane, too. (Otto)
Oh, goodie. But I guess that’s only fair since I think he’s psychotic. (Susan)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dark Side of the Moon

Thinking

“Do not complain of life's unfairness. It is never fair - at best it is impartial.”

David Gemmell Lion of Macedon

Source: Lion of Macedon

Life

“Is it fair to have given us the memory of what was and the desire of what could be when we must suffer what is?”

Neil Jordan (1950) Irish filmmaker and fiction writer

Source: The Dream of a Beast

Suffering, Memory

“Bad things happen to good people all the time. It sucks. It's not fair but then much of life isn't fair. It's how you live that matters. It's how you deal with the bumps in the road.”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: Echoes at Dawn

Life, People, Time

“Then marry me. For I love you, and I do not believe there is anything so wrong with you. You are fair in my eyes and you lie fair on my heart.”

Robin McKinley Deerskin

Source: Deerskin

Love, Lie, Heart

“Here's my Golden Rule for a tarnished age: Be fair with others, but keep after them until they're fair with you.”

Alan Alda (1936) actor and United States Army officer

Source: Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself

Age

“In a fair fight, the don's man would almost certainly paint the walls with Locke and Calo's blood, so it stood to reason that this fight would have to be as unfair as possible.”

Scott Lynch The Lies of Locke Lamora

Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora

Fight, Painting

“I shall be dark and French and fashionable and difficult. And you shall be sweet and open and English and fair. What a pair we shall be! What man can resist us?”

Philippa Gregory book The Other Boleyn Girl

Source: The Other Boleyn Girl

Fashion

“That is correct," Zeus said. "The blood of Olympus was spilled. She is fully conscious."
"Oh, come on!" Percy complained. "I get a little nosebleed and I wake up the entire earth? That's not fair!”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

“Immigration policy should be
generous; it should be fair; it should
be flexible. With such a policy we
can turn to the world, and to our own
past, with clean hands and a clear
conscience.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: A Nation of Immigrants

World, Past

“Oh, come on!’ Percy complained. ‘I get a little nosebleed and I wake up the entire earth? That’s not fair!”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

“Go out more, keep cheerful as well as busy, for you are the sunshine-maker of the family, and if you get dismal there is no fair weather.”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Women

Source: Little Women

Family, Business, Weather

“And what is happy? It is a going always on. There is something better to be done than I have done, and spurred by the fair delusion of progress, I will seek to progress, to whip myself on, to more and more- to learning. Always.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Happiness, Learning

“Will: 'Singing the praises of our fair city? We treat you well here, don't we, James? I doubt I'd have that kind of luck in Shanghai. What do you call us there again?'
Jem: 'Yang guizi… foreign devils.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Singing

“Do you truly believe that life is fair, Senor de la Vega?
-No, maestro, but I plan to do everything in my power to make it so.”

Isabel Allende book Zorro

Source: Zorro

Life

“We tend to think, 'Life should be fair because God is fair.' But God is not life. And if I confuse God with the physical reality of life- by expecting constant good health for example- then I set myself up for crashing disappointment.”

Philip Yancey (1949) American writer

Source: Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud

Life, God, Health, Disappointment

“Life, I've learned, is never fair. If they teach anything in schools, that should be it.”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

Life, School, Learning

“Maybe the lesson is: Know when to brag and when to keep your mouth shut. Or: Sometimes life isn’t fair, even if you are as gifted as Athena. Or maybe: Don’t give away free tapestries.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Source: Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

Life

“Erik: Are you very tired?
Christine: Oh, tonight I gave you my soul, and I am dead.
Erik: Your soul is a beautiful thing, child. No emperor received so fair a gift. The angels wept to-night.”

Gaston Leroux book The Phantom of the Opera

Source: The Phantom of the Opera

Beauty, Angels, Soul, Night

“And the Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Romantic poet

Source: The Complete Poems

Love, Dreams, Spring, Flowers

“Who ever said the world was fair?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

World

“Never before did I realize that mental illness could have the aspect of power, power. Think of it: perhaps the more insane a man is, the more powerful he could become. Hitler an example. Fair makes the old brain reel, doesn't it?”

Ken Kesey book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Source: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Thinking

“Too fair to worship, too divine to love.”

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German philosopher

Love

“Your cat just got cat hair on me.” “It’s only fair,” Min said. “Your suit just got expensive suit lint on him.”

Jennifer Crusie book Bet Me

Source: Bet Me

Cats

“Mercy," he said,"in a fair fight between near equals, I'll back you every time. It's the demons, vampires, and river devils I worry about, and I'm working on that.”

Patricia Briggs book River Marked

Source: River Marked

Time, Fight

“When by my solitary hearth I sit,
When no fair dreams before my “mind’s eye” flit,
And the bare heath of life presents no bloom;
Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,
And wave thy silver pinions o’er my head.”

John Keats (1795–1821) English Romantic poet

Source: The Complete Poems

Life, Dreams, Hope

“If loneliness was a choice, what was the other option? To settle for second-best and try to be happy with that? And was that fair to the person you settled for?”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Sugar Daddy

Happiness, Personality, Loneliness

“That life isn't fair?" Yeah, that, of course. But I also learned that it's possible to go on, no matter how impossible it seems, and that in time, the grief… lessens.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Tim Wheddon, Chapter 20, p. 265
Variant: ... I learned that it's possible to go on, no matter how impossible it seems, and that in time, the grief... lessens. It may not ever go away completely, but after a while it's not overwhelming.
Source: 2000s, Dear John (2006)

Life, Learning, Time

“Life is fair. We all get the same nine-month shake in the box, and then the dice roll. Some people get a run of sevens. Some people, unfortunately, get snake-eyes. Its just how the world is.”

Stephen King book Full Dark, No Stars

Source: Full Dark, No Stars

Life, People, World, Box

“No fair! Those guys ripped off what we rightfully stole!”

Gordon Korman book The Medusa Plot

Source: The Medusa Plot

Guy

“It’s okay,” said Alec. “I once walked in on you and Isabelle. I guess turnabout’s fair play.” He frowned. “Although you two were in my room at the time, so actually I think you still owe me.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Born to Endless Night

Thinking, Time

“The Queen touched her lips thoughtfully with a single long white finger. 'The Fair Folk, unlike humans, do not concern themselves overmuch with. Love, perhaps, and hate. Both are useful emotions. But…" She shrugged elegantly.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Love, Hate

“It's not fair."

"It's not. But then, that's the game. It makes life great. The fact that it ends when we don't want it to. The ending gives it meaning.”

Marisha Pessl (1977) American writer

Source: Night Film

Life, Game

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting—a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Though attributed to Emerson in Edwards' A Dictionary of Thoughts (1908), p. 37, this quote originates in Politics for the People (1848) by Charles Kingsley.
Misattributed

God, Beauty, Flowers

“Relax, having kids is years away. But can you imagine? Your brains, my charm, our collective good looks… then add in the usual physical abilities dhampirs get.

It's really not even fair to everyone else.”

Richelle Mead book The Fiery Heart

Source: The Fiery Heart

Imagination

“Rain falls on everyone, lightning strikes some. What cannot be changed is best forgotten. God made the world, and He saw that it was good. Not fair. Not happy. Not perfect. Good.”

Mary Doria Russell Children of God

Source: Children of God

God, Happiness, World, Change

“Art is the reason I get up in the morning, but the definition ends there. It doesn't seem fair that I'm living for something I can't even define.”

Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist

Out of Habit
Song lyrics
Variant: Art is why I get up in the morning; my definition ends there.
You know it doesn't seem fair,
That I'm living for something I can't even define.
And there you are right there, in the mean time.

Art

“I know it's not fair to ask you to be with me when we can't even sleep in the same bed, but I'll love you better than anyone else could. I'll take care of you and make you happy. I know I can.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Entwined with You

Love, Happiness, Sleep

“Nothing in life is fair. Fair is a dirty word and I'll thank you not to use that language around me.”

Jeff Lindsay book Dexter in the Dark

Source: Dexter in the Dark

Life

“Felix believed that the answer to every problem involved penguins; but it wasn't fair to birds, and I was getting tired of teleporting them back home. Somewhere in Antarctica, a whole flock of Magellanic penguins were undergoing psychotherapy.”

Rick Riordan book The Throne of Fire

Source: The Throne of Fire

Home, Problem, Bird

“Sure, it was your idea and your fly, but he caught the big fish. Remember, fairness is a human idea largely unknown in nature.”

John Gierach (1946) American sportswriter

Source: Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders: A John Gierach Fly-Fishing Treasury

Idea, Nature, Fish, Flying

“So that was the way. No fair play. Once down, that was the end of you.”

Jack London book Call of the Wild

Source: The Call of the Wild

Way

“An old man dies, a little girl lives. Fair trade.”

Frank Miller book That Yellow Bastard

Source: That Yellow Bastard

Girl

“I have long held the opinion that the amount of noise that anyone can bear undisturbed stands in inverse proportion to his mental capacity and therefore be regarded as a pretty fair measure of it.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

“Fred: "Is that brick wall your boyfriend?"
Doug: "Only in my dreams."
Fred: "Oh, you too? I'm Fred."
Doug: "Doug. I should mention, in all fairness though that Christy's boyfriend is my best friend. He's the brick wall you should be worried about.”

Robin Jones Gunn (1955) American writer

Source: A Time to Cherish

Dreams

“It's not fair to show someone the sun and then banish him from it. Even the devil may cry when he looks around hell and realizes that he's there alone. -Acheron”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

Hell, Sun, Cry

“All is vanity, nothing is fair.”

William Makepeace Thackeray Vanity Fair

Source: Vanity Fair

“Jamie shook his head at me admiringly. “And here I thought I married you because ye had a fair face and a fine fat arse. To think you’ve a brain as well!” He neatly dodged the blow I aimed at his ear, and grinned at me.”

Diana Gabaldon book Dragonfly in Amber

Source: Dragonfly in Amber

Thinking

“You know, it's not fair. Women are judged inferior until we prove ourselves, and men are judged superior until they prove what assholes they are.”

Sidney Sheldon book Nothing Lasts Forever

Source: Nothing Lasts Forever

Women, Men

“What kind of life have you lived little one? Where fair has anything to do with it? Life and death just are. Fair has nothing to do with it.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Life, Death

“But I also have to say, for the umpty-umpth time, that life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all.”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

Life, Death, Time

“Was it fair to say I didn't know the full state of my soul?”

Anne Rice (1941) American writer

Soul

“People will buy anything at jumble sales,' I said. 'At the Evacuated Children Charity Fair a woman bought a tree branch that had fallen on the table.”

Connie Willis book To Say Nothing of the Dog

Source: To Say Nothing of the Dog

Children, People, Tree

“I don't remember everything," he said.
"Not yet. But I remember you."
He brought her hand up, touched the gold ring on her right index finger, the Fair Folk metal warm to the touch.
"Clary," he said.
"You're Clary. You're my best friend.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

“You don't need a search warrant to go through someone's trash. Seriously. Once it hits the curb it is totally fair game-you an look it up.”

Ally Carter Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Source: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Search, Game

“Is it fair your life burns so short and bright? Death had asked.

"No such thing as fair," Frank told himself. "If I'm going to burn, it might as well be bright.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Life, Death

“If you want to give yourself a fair chance to succeed, never expect too much too soon”

Po Bronson (1964) American writer

Chance

“Fair means everyone gets what they need. And the only way to get what you need is to make it happen yourself.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Way

“No man can call himself liberal, or radical, or even a conservative advocate of fair play, if his work depends in any way on the unpaid or underpaid labor of women at home, or in the office.”

Gloria Steinem (1934) American feminist and journalist

Women, Way, Home, Dependency

“I would love to have a battle of wits with you, Bison, but I doubt it would be a fair fight.'
'Shut your face.'
'Exactly my point.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Death Bringer

Love, Fight

“Fiction wouldn't be much fun without its fair share of scoundrels, and they have to live somewhere.”

Jasper Fforde book The Well of Lost Plots

Source: The Well of Lost Plots

“The world isn't fair, Calvin."
"I know Dad, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes
Source: The Essential Calvin and Hobbes: A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury

World

“Life isn't fair,' Skulduggery said. 'In my experience, death isn't so different.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Death Bringer

Life, Death

“Life isn't just fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all. -William Goldman”

Ann Brashares The Second Summer of the Sisterhood

Source: The Second Summer of the Sisterhood

Life, Death

“I would take them in a bowl,” said Mark with a winning gaze. “It has been many years since I have eaten freely at my choice, fair one, and a plate of strawberries is all that I desire.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

“it was important to him that i know who she was, so im glad for that. but it makes me sad too. they loved each other so much, and now she's gone. it doesn't seem fair.”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

Love, Sadness

“If you come to a fight thinking it will be a fair one, you didn't come prepared.”

F. Paul Wilson (1946) novelist

Thinking, Fight

“Looking at me, you'd never guess I'd killed three people. It isn't fair.”

Iain Banks book The Wasp Factory

Source: The Wasp Factory

People

“Her philosophy is carpe diem for herself and laissez faire for others.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book This Side of Paradise

Source: This Side of Paradise

“I also want to tell him how much I already miss him. But that wouldn't be fair on my part.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

Parting

“Oh, I'm starting to cry again. That's what happens when you think about life being fair. And I can't explain why it isn't… I don't think it's something anybody knows.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Life, Thinking, Cry

“It wouldn't be fair to ask you to be around me when I'm so sick of being around me.”

David Levithan book Another Day

Source: Another Day

“Nothing is fair in this world. You might as well get that straight right now”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

World

“Fair isn't fair, Dean. Like I'm supposed to help you because fair is fair? Try I need you to help me so I wont rip out your spine and beat you with it. I might respond to that, maybe.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: School's Out—Forever

Help

“What have they done to the earth?
What have they done to our fair sister?
Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her
Stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn
And tied her with fences and dragged her down”

Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors

Sister

“It never seemed fair that just when you're old enough to do anything you want, you can't. You have to start working, so there's no time. And if there is time, you're not working, so there's no money.”

Terri Farley (1950) American writer

Source: Seven Tears Into the Sea

Money, Time

“Generally speaking, I think it is fair to say that I am a friend to the creatures of the earth when I am not busy eating them or wearing them.”

John Hodgman book The Areas of My Expertise

Source: The Areas of My Expertise (2005), p. 46

Business, Thinking

“I understand that love and tragedy go hand in hand, for there can’t be one without the other, but nonetheless I find myself wondering whether the trade-off is fair.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Longest Ride

Ira Levinson, Chapter 17, p. 237
Source: 2009, The Longest Ride (2013)
Context: My marriage brought great happiness into my life, but lately there's been nothing but sadness. I understand that love and tragedy go hand in hand, for there can't be one without the other, but nonetheless I find myself wondering whether the tradeoff is fair. A man should die as he had lived, I think; in his final moments, he should be surrounded and comforted by those he's always loved.

Love, Understanding

“faint heart never won fair lady”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Princess in Love

Heart

“And as he held his first true lover against him, feeling that familiar difference in their heights and smelling that wonderful cologne, part of him wanted to debate this break up until they both gave in and kept trying.
But that wasn’t fair.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover at Last

Feeling, Lovers, Parting

“If you have any care for Sin at all,
don't leave him in darkness. It's not fair to show someone the sun and then to banish him from it. Even the
devil may cry when he looks around hell and realizes that he's there alone - Acheron (Devil May Cry)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Hell, Sun, Cry

“The world isn't fair? What a huge revelation! Some people in power abuse those they have power over? Amazing! When did this start happening?”

Brandon Sanderson book Words of Radiance

Source: Words of Radiance

People, World

“He was reading from the beginning so that he could get to the end, where the reader was assured that the knight and the fair maiden lived together happily ever after.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

Reading

“So I saved your life, and you repaid me by raising Kronos. That's fair.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

Life

“People…shouldn’t be allowed to have new children if they’d already given away all their love to their old ones. It wasn’t fair.”

Khaled Hosseini book A Thousand Splendid Suns

Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Love, Children, People

“Life isn't fair," Owen told her. "Get used to it.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Source: Just Listen

Life

“I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here… rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness… give me truth.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

Love, Money, Truth, Faith

“And who ever said the world was fair, little lady? Maybe death is fair, but certainly not life. We must accept the unfairness as proof of the sublime flux of existence, the capricious music of the universe- and go on about our tasks”

Tom Robbins Skinny Legs and All

Source: Skinny Legs and All

Life, Death, World, Music

“I've never really understood the desire people have to quantify a baby. "He's X big and Y long," As if the baby is a fish you're not sure you're going to keep. Or some prize potato you're hoping will win a prize at the county fair.”

Patrick Rothfuss (1973) American fantasy writer

People, Hope, Fish, Baby

“A million and a half of people spread over the Atlantic seaboard might be thought no great number; but it was a new thing in the world. …which had in fact been carefully noted by Benjamin Franklin in a pamphlet on The Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.—that within three-quarters of a century the population of the continental colonies had doubled every twenty-five years, whereas the population of Old England during a hundred years past had not doubled once and now stood at only some six and a half millions. …With these facts in mind, one might indeed say that a people with so much vitality and expansive power was abundantly able to pay taxes; but perhaps it was also a fair inference, if any one was disposed to press the matter, that unless it was so minded, such a people was already, or assuredly soon would be, equally able not to pay them.”

Carl L. Becker (1873–1945) American historian

The Eve of the Revolution (1918)

People, World, Past, Country

“But Goethe tells us in his greatest poem that Faust lost the liberty of his soul when he said to the passing moment: "Stay, thou art so fair." And our liberty, too, is endangered if we pause for the passing moment, if we rest on our achievements, if we resist the pace of progress. For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

1963, Address in the Assembly Hall at the Paulskirche in Frankfurt
Variant: Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
Documents on International Affairs, 1963, Royal Institute of International Affairs, ed. Sir John Wheeler Wheeler-Bennett, p. 36.

Life, World, Law, Art

“The law of England is anxious for the interests of persons against whom charges may be made. If a man commits a crime, there is a legal and constitutional mode by which that crime may be brought into discussion. He is liable to be tried, but though his crime may be as great and as aggravated as possible, he ought to have a full, fair, dispassionate, and temperate investigation of his conduct at the time of trial.”

Sir John Bayley, 1st Baronet (1763–1841) British judge

1 St. Tr. (N. S.) 162.
Trial of Sir Francis Burdett (King v. Burdett) (1820)

Law, Time, Personality

“Hinduism is like a great reservoir of water from which many streams take their rise and to which they again repair after passing through many strange and fair lands. It is a great, creative matrix giving birth to many beautiful and living forms. Itself a historical, it has given birth to many sects and branches with interesting, chequered histories. Paying sole allegiance to the Guide within seated in the cave of the heart, it has put forward from time to time many teachers and sages of incomparable power and vision, incarnating the very Gods above and within.”

Ram Swarup (1920–1998) Indian historian

On Hinduism (2000)

God, Beauty, History, Birth

Quotes about fairness page 3

Quotes about fairness
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