there is no free lunch

idiom

—used to say that it is not possible to get something that is desired or valuable without having to pay for it in some way

Examples of there is no free lunch in a Sentence

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But there is no free lunch in national security politics, and the political forces that help foreign policymaking also push it in a hawkish direction. —

Elizabeth N. Saunders, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024

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“There is no free lunch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/there%20is%20no%20free%20lunch. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

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