Faustian bargain

Faustian bargain

An agreement, bargain, or deal in which a person sacrifices or abandons moral, ethical, or spiritual values in favor of wealth, power, or other benefits. A reference to the legend of Faust, who sold his soul to the devil for unlimited knowledge and power. I fear we might have devised something of a Faustian bargain for ourselves with our overdependence on technology, having traded in every speck of our private lives for flashy gadgets and convenience. She struck a Faustian bargain with the competitors, selling her own company's secrets for shares in each of their companies.
See also: bargain
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • hold (one's) end of the bargain up
  • hold (up) (one's) end of the bargain
  • hold end of the bargain up
  • keep (up) (one's) end of the bargain
  • on moral grounds
  • keep (up) (one's) side of the bargain
  • strike a bargain
  • strike a bargain/deal
  • it takes two to make a bargain
  • hard bargain
References in periodicals archive
"It was part of what he considered a Faustian bargain made with the media - he would be left alone to continue his schooling in peace in return for occasional access," he added.
There are some who ascribe this to a Faustian bargain at unimaginable scale.
Summary: Many make this Faustian bargain: They sell their soul to prolong their political careers
It is a Faustian bargain. Trump gives them what they want right
The engineering staff at Robins Air Force Base--not the contracting office--attempted to coerce us over a dozen times to give up our SBIR data rights, including, at the last minute, sending a Memorandum of Understanding, that was little more than a Faustian bargain to sign away our rights in exchange for a Phase III contract.
We are just now beginning to better understand this 'Faustian bargain' " says Al Gore, co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management.
While making a so-called Faustian bargain with Asif Zardari, the former prime minister and his associates intensified their anti-judiciary tirade.
Nemtsov's killing highlighted the Faustian bargain the Kremlin has made with Mr Kadyrov.
Conservatives who seek to use populism for their own ends inevitably make a Faustian bargain. We are now living with the consequences of that bargain in the form of Donald Trump's presidency.
Thanks largely to its early awareness of the need to address climate change, the insurance industry's Faustian bargain has so far avoided scrutiny from pressure groups.
The true concern is whether Beijing is entering into a Faustian bargain that trades the short-term gains of limited economic growth today for the long-term pains of diminishing investment returns tomorrow.
Key words: Necromancy, narcissism, free-will, Faustian bargain, hubris.
Along the way, Jack is forced to confront the soul he denies having, and must decide whether or not to reverse his Faustian bargain.
This Faustian bargain comes at the expense of Christian values.
The first warns how a Faustian bargain once struck, allows for no turning back.