All's fair...

All's fair in love and war.

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly does that mean? That in love and war anything goes, any behaviour is acceptable. It's the ends justify the means. Just as any means might be taken to win the war, a girl is allowed to do anything in order to get the guy.

However, there are rules to war. There has always been rules and codes and things that are just not done. If a city surrenders, it is protected, the invading army does not pillage and burn. It is only when a city fights back that it is destroyed. Prisoners of War are treated a certain way, civilians are treated a certain way. In the modern world, leaders of countries can be convicted for War Crimes.

There are also rules for love. There's the strange game of courting, the expectations of society. But often, when that maxim is used, it is used when people are in competition with each other for the same guy (or girl) as excuse bad behaviour. And in certain situations, there are no external rules and everything really is fair, but that rarely happens.

I short that maxim is a damn lie.