History Main / LifeIsntFair

* Used and abused to hell and back, then back to hell and back again. {{Troll}}s, {{Griefer}}s, and '''especially''' TheSocialDarwinist, using either this or [[ParodyRetcon "satire"]] to excuse {{Jerkass}} behavior.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

-->'''Miranda''': The only justice that I know is the one that people create and enforce. Everyone has their own definition of right and wrong, but [[MightMakesRight only strength determines which set of rights and wrongs prevails]].\\
'''Jade''': I don't believe in that. There is right, and there is wrong. [[BlackAndWhiteMorality As much as there is good and evil]]. It's how the world works.\\
'''Miranda''': Then you are as naïve as Elyon is. Or the Guardians and the Rebels, for that matter. There is no evil, just as there is no good. Life is cruel and ruthless, not wrong. Or right. It simply is.

[[folder: Films -- Animated]]

-->'''Scar:''' Life's not fair, is it? You see, I ... well, I shall never be king. And you ... shall never see the light of another day. ''[[GratuitousFrench Adieu.]]''

-->'''Gru:''' Yeah, yeah. Life is full of disappointments ... for some people.

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action]]

-->"Who ever said life is fair? Where is that written? Life isn't always fair."
-->"Life is pain, your highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."

-->Hey, thumbdick, I was a damn good shrink. Nineteen years I worked with a lot of people through a lot of shit. OK, I slept with a patient or two. It's not like I didn't care about them. I loved being a doctor. I used to not charge half my patients. Then the fucking state comes along, they send in some bitch undercover, and I'm fucked. Life isn't fair, is it?

-->"You and Black, you're two of a kind: sentimental children, forever whining about how bitterly unfair your lives have been. Well, it may have escaped your notice, but life isn't fair. Your blessed father knew that; in fact, he frequently ''saw to it''!"

-->"Life is cruel! Why should the afterlife be any different?"

--> '''Elizabeth:''' This isn't fair, brother.
--> '''Russell:''' So is life.

-->'''Will''': If life were to suddenly get fair, I doubt it would happen in high school.

[[folder: Literature]]

-->'''Bella''': Hasn't anyone ever told you? Life isn't fair.

-->No, life isn't fair, but I try to be.
* ''Literature/{{A Series of Unfortunate Events}}'':
-->'''Count Olaf''': (stuck in a cage, talking to the distraught Baudelaire children) Life isn't fair.

-->"Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something."
-->"Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all."
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''

---> You could say to the universe, this is not ''fair''. And the universe would say: Oh, isn't it? Sorry.\\
You could save people. You could get there in the nick of time. And something could snap its fingers and say, no, it has to ''be'' this way. Let me tell you how it has to be. [[YouCantFightFate This is how the legend has to go.]]

--->''[[AC: There is no fair. There is no justice. There is just [[TheGrimReaper me]].]]''

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

-->Life isn't fair, Will. I mean, was it fair when WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'s mother died?

-->You know, I used to think that it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life ''were'' fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually ''[[LaserGuidedKarma deserve]]'' them? [[TheAntiNihilist So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.]]

-->'''Crais''': There is much in life that is unfair. We are all proof of that.

--->'''Chiana''': (pleading) I want to go to him.\\
'''John''': I know... But since when do people like us get what we want?

-->'''Blackadder''': But you know Baldrick, the world isn't fair. If it was, things like ''this'' wouldn't happen, would they?\\

-->'''Hercules''': The Fates can be cruel. Look what they did to you.\\
'''Hades''': You're tellin' me. My brother, Zeus, gets to be king of all gods. My other brother, Poseidon, gets to be god of the sea. I get god of the Other Side, hangin' around for eternity with nothin' but dead people. Doesn't seem fair.

[[folder: Music]]

--> "[[BoastfulRap A hundred grand on my wrist]]; [[SarcasmMode yea, life sucks]]."

-->And this life sentence that I'm serving\\
I admit that I'm every bit deserving\\
But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair

-->I don't know\\

Life's not fair.

-->Life is unfair\\
Kill yourself or get over it.

-->People are stupid and life isn't fair,\\
''Series/DoctorWho'''s finished and Boris is mayor!

-->You were my life, but life is far away from fair.

-->The time has come, and it's going nowhere\\
Nobody ever said that life was fair, now

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]
* Lampshaded in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''
-->'''Calvin's dad:''' The world isn't fair, Calvin.\\
'''Calvin:''' I know, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?
* Played with in ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey''. Beetle complains that he's got kitchen detail again, and Sarge tells him that no one ever said that life was fair. Beetle points out that Sarge is the one deciding who gets put on kitchen detail, and Sarge tells him that no one ever said that ''he'' (Sarge) was fair, either.

[[folder: Professional Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/VinceMcMahon sums up this trope in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xOcCYCFnrk this promo.]]

[[folder: Stand-Up Comedy]]
* Creator/GeorgeCarlin had a bit in one his stand up routines where he not only expounded on how unfair life was, but also noted "Everyone who ever told me that life was fair died horribly before age 35."
* A famous joke by Johnny Carson: "If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and [[ElvisImpersonator all the impersonators]] would be dead."
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[[folder: Theatre]]

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-->'''Doctor''': I'm so sorry. I know this is hard and she was so young. Sometimes it just doesn't seem fair.\\
[[spoiler:'''Fred:''']]: Miss, I had almost forty years with the most amazin' woman in the world. If life is unfair, it was unfair in my favor.

[[folder: Web Video]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', when [[spoiler: Peridot]] starts to complain that she won the battle and is irritated that the [[spoiler: Pearl]] gets praised instead, she gets a variant of this from Garnet:
--> Welcome to Earth.

-->'''Cartman''': That's not fair!\\
'''Mr Hat''': Life's not fair, tubby, get used to it!\\
'''Cartman''': Stupid puppet...

[[folder: Real Life]]

[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2022_10_26_160539.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'']]

-->You were my life, but life is far away from fair.\\

* Used and abused to hell and back, [[UpToEleven then back to hell and back again]]. {{Troll}}s, {{Griefer}}s, and '''especially''' TheSocialDarwinist, using either this or [[ParodyRetcon "satire"]] to excuse {{Jerkass}} behavior.

----

''Series/DoctorWho'''s finished and [[UsefulNotes/BorisJohnson Boris]] is mayor!

* In ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'', this is [[BigBad Zero II]]’s CatchPhrase:

* Often told to those suffering from depression. To those who know someone who is depressed, [[DrivenToSuicide saying this is a]] ''bad'' [[DrivenToSuicide idea]].

* In one episode of ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'', Tim goes up to Brittas to complain that the game they were playing was unfair (as he was getting worse off despite being sennsible with his money whilst Gavin was spending money like crazy and is still rich). Brittas, who is suffering from some personal issues (he has been threatened with mandatory retirement) replies with this:

* Often told to those suffering from depression. To those who know someone who is depressed, [[DrivenToSuicide saying this is a]] ''[[{{Understatement}} bad]]'' [[DrivenToSuicide idea]].

* ''WebVideo/Dimension20'''s "Misfits and Magic" campaign has a rare example where this is said out of sympathy. [[BlessedWithSuck Evan]] tearfully reveals to Nurse Stichmit that his powers have made his life a living hell, [[IJustWantToBeNormal and he'd give anything to not have magic]]. Stichmit reveals that removing one's magic is totally possible, but urges Evan to ''really'' think about it before he decides, because if he has no magic, he'll be sent away from the wizarding world, and his friends, forever. Evan desperately tries to bargain, even offering to become a janitor at the school so he can earn his keep and stay, pointing out that, partially thanks to his powers' destructive tendencies, he has no family, no other friends, and ''nowhere'' he can go. Stichmit tells him it just isn't how things are done in the wizarding world, and Evan dejectedly points out that this just isn't fair. The nurse sadly agrees that it really isn't, but that life rarely is.

-->'''Gordon Brittas:''' That's life for you, Tim. Life is not fair. It never has been. In real life, it doesn't matter how hard you work or what you believe in, it's all based on luck. You work hard, you give it everything you've got, but at the end of the day, all you actually do is roll a dice. You roll the right number and you succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Throw another number and it all goes down the sewers.\\

-->'''Calvin's dad:''' The world is isn't fair, Calvin.\\

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* Shows up in the Hindi movie Bollywood/{{Lagaan}}, where the [[EvilBrit Captain Russell]] puts the natives in an impossible position - play a cricket game against an experienced team and win to avoid taxes for the next few years - or lose and pay ''three times that amount''. His sister calls him out on it.

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Often told to those suffering from depression. To those who know someone who is depressed, [[DrivenToSuicide saying this is a]] ''[[{{Main/Understatement}} bad]]'' [[DrivenToSuicide idea]].

* Often told to those suffering from depression. To those who know someone who is depressed, [[DrivenToSuicide saying this is a]] ''[[DrivenToSuicide bad]]'' [[DrivenToSuicide idea]].

* ''Film/{{Dunkirk}}'' sees Alex telling Tommy that "Survival's not fair!" when he and his regiment try to throw Tommy and Gibson out of the trawler their using to escape.

-->Life isn't fair, Will. I mean, was it fair when Disney/{{Bambi}}'s mother died?

* ''Disney/TheLionKing'': Scar has this to say to a mouse he's caught:

** In ''Discworld/SoulMusic'', CrustyCaretaker Albert explains that Susan is the only eligible replacement for [[TheGrimReaper Death]], and being a typical teenager at heart Susan eventually resorts to complaining "It's not fair!". Albert retorts, dripping with sarcasm, that she can go explain that to the universe at large and see how far it gets her. This gets referred back to at the end of the book, when she's trying to save Buddy:

** This is also seen earlier in ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'' when protesting the unfairness of someone's death.