42 Double Standard Quotes to Expose the Two-Faced among Us

One of the most frustrating experiences we can have in our life is being judged on our actions by someone who did or is doing the same thing. Learn more about those who hold double standards with the 42 quotes below.

There is nothing wrong with having and following a moral code about which you are passionate. However, this becomes an issue when you expect others to follow that code, judge them if they don't, and then go on to do the very same thing you were against.

Double standards can be found in interpersonal relationships, different communities and organizations, politics, the office, and so much more. Read the following 42 quotes to dive into the strange world of double standards.

Sam Veda’s quote: "People of double standards never experience happiness." | Image: AmoDays

Quotes on People with Double Standards and Their Inner World

"People can't handle the truth unless you speak to them with a mirror." ― Lakia Echols

"Hypocrisy is the outward acknowledgment of inward shame." — Norman MacDonald

"Most people sell their souls and live with a good conscience on the proceeds." ― Logan Pearsall Smith

"People of double standards never experience happiness." ― Sam Veda

Bertrand Russell’s quote: "We have two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice and another which we practice but seldom preach." | Image: AmoDays

Double Standards between Men and Women

"As long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking." ― Virginia Woolf, "Orlando"

"We constantly have to reach an impossible standard in order to just be taken a little bit seriously, and you can't help but wonder if it's all a trick. If we are meant to be too busy applying lipstick to get involved with politics, business decisions, and activism." ― Sofie Hagen

"There is a double standard out there. Comedy is a male business; it's not ladylike what we're doing. But at the end of the day, if it's funny, it's funny, and funny tends to quiet the criticisms." ― Wanda Sykes

Mary Wollstonecraft’s quote: "It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree independent of men." | Image: AmoDays

"We always blame the woman when a man falls in love, as though no man had the courage of his inclinations." ― Samuel Taylor

"Women really are not supposed to be imaginative. That creativity of this kind is supposed to belong to men. You know, because women make babies. I find the double standards shocking." — Siri Hustvedt

"I will not calm down! Women are allowed to get angrier than men about double standards." ― Liz

"She was flabbergasted by the backward thinking of humankind. The damaging double standards that fueled gender disparity infuriated her." ― Wiss Auguste, "The Illusions of Hope"

Marjorie Brody’s quote: "When men have pictures of family, people think, 'How sweet.' But when women have those same pictures, there might be the question of where her attention and where her focus are." | Image: AmoDays

"The man or the woman in whom resides greater virtue is the higher; neither the loftiness nor the lowliness of a person lies in the body according to the sex, but in the perfection of conduct and virtues." ― Christine de Pizan

"I think it's a very old and deep-seated double standard that holds that when a man writes about family and feelings, it's literature with a capital L, but when a woman considers the same topics, it's romance, or a beach book―in short, it's something unworthy of a serious critic's attention." ― Jennifer Weiner

"I will never deny that life isn't fair. It seems as though when a woman leaves a man, she is strong and independent, but when a man leaves a woman, he is a pig and a jerk." — Criss Jami

"It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree independent of men." ― Mary Wollstonecraft

Naomi Wolf’s quote: "Beauty provokes harassment, the law says, but it looks through men's eyes when deciding what provokes it." | Image: AmoDays

"When I kiss a girl for a part, people think it's sexy. But if two guys kiss, suddenly, there's a backlash. It's a double standard." ― Olivia Wilde

"Wherever you find a great man, you will find a great mother or a great wife standing behind him―or so they used to say. It would be interesting to know how many great women have had great fathers and husbands behind them." ― Dorothy L. Sayers, "Gaudy Night"

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a [expletive]." ― Bette Davis

"Beauty provokes harassment, the law says, but it looks through men's eyes when deciding what provokes it." ― Naomi Wolf

"When men have pictures of family, people think, 'How sweet.' But when women have those same pictures, there might be the question of where her attention and where her focus are." ― Marjorie Brody

Social Commentary on Double Standards

Voltaire’s quote: "It is forbidden to kill; therefore, all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." | Image: AmoDays

"A politician is a man who will double-cross that bridge when he comes to it." ― Oscar Levant

"For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit." ― Noam Chomsky

"People are constantly applying double standards. Take the United States, for example. Washington wants the whole world to admire the country for its democracy. Then the government sends out its army, in the name of this democracy, and leaves behind the kind of chaos we see in Iraq." ― Jacob Zuma

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore, all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." ― Voltaire

Noam Chomsky’s quote: "For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit." | Image: AmoDays

Double the Number of Quotes

"Readers can be unfaithful to writers anytime they like, but writers must never ever be unfaithful to the readers." ― Peter Schjeldahl

"They are all innocent until proven guilty, but not me. I am a liar until I am proven honest." — Louise O'Neill

"Apparently, when it's two people, it's quirky and funny, but when it's a person doing the same stuff on her own, it's rebellious and antisocial." ― Katie Alender

"When you say that you agree to a thing in principle, you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out." — Otto von Bismarck

"Politeness—the most acceptable hypocrisy." — Ambrose Bierce

Peter Schjeldahl’s quote: "Readers can be unfaithful to writers anytime they like, but writers must never ever be unfaithful to the readers." | Image: AmoDays

"We have two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice and another which we practice but seldom preach." ― Bertrand Russell

"I have really tried my best to ignore any double standard. I can't control the expectations of other people. I can control my attitude and my energy, and that's always been very positive." ― Beth Mowins

"The person portrayed and the portrait is two entirely different things." — Jose Ortega Y. Gasset

"I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy." ― Oscar Wilde

George Carlin’s quote: "Let's not have a double standard. One standard will do just fine." | Image: AmoDays

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"Leaders scan the future so it can be free of doubts and fear. They do so by not living a double standard life in the present." ― Israelmore Ayivor

"Some people's blameless lives are to blame for a good deal." ― Dorothy L. Sayers, "Gaudy Night"

"[T]he infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell." ― Bertrand Russell

"Be the same person privately, publicly, and personally." ― Judah Smith

"Let's not have a double standard. One standard will do just fine." ― George Carlin

Judah Smith’s quote: "Be the same person privately, publicly, and personally." | Image: AmoDays

Whenever we judge somebody, we first need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we are innocent in this regard. Even if we are, we should still question whether we have the right to judge anyone.

We can never truly know what someone is going through, and so judgment is a highly ignorant spell to cast upon another. We should keep our hearts open before we assume we know what others are going through and why they made the decisions they made.

However, this does not mean we should throw our judgment away wholly. There are situations where we can feel we mustn't trust some, and unfortunately, against our better judgment, enter relationships with them anyways.

Read these 42 quotes on users to learn to escape the clutches of toxic people.