Loading ...“All is fair in love and war” is an idiom that means people may use any means necessary to achieve their goals in situations involving love or war. It’s often used to justify cheating or other underhanded behavior. For example, you might say “Sure, it was underhanded to steal his customers, but all’s fair in love and war”.
The phrase is an example of juxtaposition, which is a figure of speech that places two different or opposing words or concepts side by side.In this case, the idiom juxtaposes the peaceful concept of love with the violent concept of war.
The origins of the idiom are attributed to poet John Lyly, who wrote “The rules of fair play do not apply in love and war”.
There is also a song called “All Is Fair in Love and War” by American country music artist Ronnie Milsap.It was released in 1992 as the fourth single from his album Back to the Grindstone.