fair exchange is no robbery

English

Proverb

fair exchange is no robbery

1. Swapping two things or subjects of equal value is considered an honest deal.
   • 2006 -, Michele Baxter, The Chronicles of Serendipus: The Tale of the Secret Keeper, →ISBN, pages 118–119:

     "You can get anything you need here," Shamlack explained. "Longheads will adapt to whatever trade is needed at any given time and they have an excellent eye and mind for business. They are always honest, but don't ever expect to get anything for nothing -- you get what you ask for and nothing more or less than that." "Well, you know, fair exchange is no robbery," one of the Longheads chipped in, overhearing them.

   • 2012, Gavin Kennedy, Everything is Negotiable, →ISBN:

     When you add all the other elements (risk, security, deposit, currency, condition, title, mortgage interest, planning consents, inhibitions, tenants' titles, access, utilities, damage, landscaping and so on) of the sale or purchase of the building, the 'equal' movement fantasy is exposed as meaningless in detail. 'Fair exchange is no robbery' is true but it says nothing about a fair exchange being equal in some way. In fact, no exchange is an equal transaction.

   • 2013, Vernon Louis Parrington, The Beginnings of Critical Realism in America, →ISBN:

     The current maxim that a fair exchange is no robbery—so confidently urged— cannot apply to the profit system, for if the exchange is fair there is no profit, and if there is no profit there will be no exchange

   • 2014, Roger A McCain, Reframing Economics: Economic Action as Imperfect Cooperation, →ISBN:

     An old saying has it that “fair exchange is no robbery,” and in fact, exchange, per se, is a form of interdependence that can make both sides better off.