A reader seldom peruses a book with pleasure until he knows whether the writer of it be a black man or a fair man, of a mild or choleric disposition, married or a bachelor.

-Addison,Joseph
  In The Spectator, no.1,1 Mar.

You must not miss Whitehall. At one end you will find a statue of one of our kings who was beheaded; at the other, a monument tothemanwho did it.That isjust one example of our attempts to be fair to everybody.

-Appleton, Sir Edward Victor
  Speech, Stockholm,1  Jan.

His harmonical and ingenious soul did lodge in a beautiful and well proportioned body. He was a spare man†. He was so fair that they called him the lady of Christ's College.

-Aubrey,John
  Of Milton. Brief Lives (published1813),'John Milton'.

His opinion of himself, having once risen, remained at 'set fair'.

-Bennett, (Enoch) Arnold
The Card, ch.1.

   Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves'eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead. Thy teeth are like a flockof sheep that are evenshorn, whichcameup from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks. Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. Thy two breasts are liketwo young roesthat aretwins, which feed among the lilies.Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and tothehill of frankincense.Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Song of Solomon 4:1^7.

   How fair and how pleasant art thou,O love, for delights!

-Bible (Old Testament)
Song of Solomon 7:6.

The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground: yea, I have a goodly heritage. See Kipling 473:53.

-Book of Common Prayer
Psalm16:7.

O rattlin, roarin Willie, O he held to the fair; An'for to sell his fiddle And buy some other ware.

-Burns, Robert
  'Rattlin, roarin Willie', stanza1.

Though this was fair, and that was braw, And yon the toast of a'the town, I sigh'd, and said amang them a', 'Ye are na Mary Morison.'

-Burns, Robert
  'Mary Morison', stanza 2.

O my Luve's like a red, red rose That's newly sprung in June; O my luve's like the melodie That's sweetly play'd in tune. As fair art thou, my bonie lass, So deep in luve am I; And I will luve thee still, my Dear, Till a'the seas gang dry. Till a'the seas gang dry, my Dear, And the rocks melt wi' the sun: O I will love thee still, my Dear, While the sands o' life shall run.

-Burns, Robert
  'A red, red rose'.

Keep up appearances; there lies the test; The world will give thee credit for the rest. Outward be fair, however foul within; Sin if thou wilt, but then in secret sin.

-Churchill, Charles
  Night, l.311^12.

Say, lingering fair! why comes the birth Of your brave soul so slowly forth?

-Crashaw, Richard
  'To the Noblest and Best of Ladies, the Countess of Denbigh'.

Now,Watson, the fair sex is your department.

-Doyle, SirArthur Conan
  The Return of Sherlock Holmes,'The Second Stain'.

   Fair stood the wind for France When we our sails advance, Nor now to prove our chance Longer will tarry.

-Drayton, Michael
  Poems Lyrick and Pastorall,'To the Cambro-Britons and Their Harp, His Ballad of  Agincourt', describing Henry V's expedition to France,1415.

Happy, happy, happy, pair! None but the brave, None but the brave, None but the brave deserves the fair.

-Dryden,John
  Alexander's Feast, l.4^7.

   All are needed by each one; Nothing is fair or good alone.

-Emerson, RalphWaldo
  'Each and  All', l.11^12.

In football it is widely acknowledged that if both sides agree to cheat, cheating is fair.

-Fry, C(harles) B(urgess)
  Quoted in Colin  Jarman The Guinness Dictionary of Sports Quotations (1990).

The lads in their hundredsto Ludlowcome in for the fair, There'smen fromthe barn and the forge and themill and the fold, The lads for the girls and the lads for the liquor are there, And there with the rest are lads that will never be old.

-Housman, A(lfred) E(dward)
  A Shropshire Lad, no.23.

Oh I have been to Ludlow fair And left my necktie God knows where, And carried half-way home, or near, Pints and quarts of Ludlow beer.

-Housman, A(lfred) E(dward)
  A Shropshire Lad, no.62.

He never wants anything but what's right and fair, only when you come to settle what's right and fair, it's everything that hewantsandnothing that youwant. And that's his idea of a compromise.Give me the Brown compromise when I'm on his side.

-Hughes,Ted (Edward James)
  Tom Brown's Schooldays, pt.2, ch.2.