business is business

English

Etymology

Possibly a calque of French les affaires sont les affaires (or vice versa). The French phrase is found as far back as George Sand's Mattea (1833).

Phrase

business is business

  1. Business matters should not be influenced by friendship or sentiment.
    • before 1843, anonymous author, The Grog-Seller's Dream‎[1]:
      I've a mortgage now on Tompkins' lot; / What a fool he was to become a sot! […] How she will blubber and sob and sigh, / But business is business,—and what care I?
    • 1846, Charles Rowcroft, The Bushranger of Van Diemen's Land:
      But money first, you know, Mark; business is business as the saying is; and there's nothing like the ready.
    • 1874, Horatio Alger, Risen from the Ranks‎[2]:
      Although I am your nephew, I wouldn't think of asking you to lend me money without security. Business is business, so I say.

Translations

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