50 Favoritism Quotes To Help You Find Balance

By Clifton Sankofa | Published December 22, 2022

Are you looking for favoritism quotes?

It might be challenging to pick which of these quotes about favoritism you like best.

What is favoritism?

Favoritism is giving unfair preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another.

Some favoritism is deliberate; other times, it happens unconsciously.

There are different forms of favoritism that can manifest.

Two of the most common places a person will experience favoritism are at their workplace and in their household.

Here are some eye-opening survey data from a Georgetown study about household and workplace favoritism :

Seventy percent of mothers admitted to having a favorite child.
Fifty-six percent of bosses already have a favorite in mind before the formal interview.
Seventy-five percent of people at work feel they have witnessed favoritism.
Twenty-three percent of employers admit to practicing favoritism

Favoritism is one of the leading causes of employee unhappiness and turnover.

Favoritism can also have detrimental long-term effects on a child.

Parental favoritism is when a parent displays bias toward a child.

Examples include less discipline, more privileges, or time spent.

Most parents will say they try to be neutral and treat their children equally, but this can be challenging.

How does favoritism impact children?

Favoritism has negative impacts in the immediate present.

The effect of bias can harm people into their adulthood.

The long-term dangers of favoritism are anxiety, depression, poor responses to personal relationships, and performance anxiety.

Check out our favoritism quotes below.

Short favoritism quotes

This list shows that we do not mean many words to express ideas about favoritism.

1. “God does not show favoritism.” — Romans 2:11

2. “The Gods play no favorites.” — Charles Bukowski

3. “Favoritism is proof that the very best isn’t appreciated.” — Joe Cervantes

4. “I seem to have a knack for picking movies that go on to be cult favorites.” — Kurt Russell

5. “Any day spent with you is my favorite day. So today is my new favorite day.” — A. A. Milne

6. “Privileged groups work for greater power consolidation through favoritism.” — Bryant McGill

7. “For me to get an award from the press, I know there’s been no favoritism.” — Bobby Knight

8. “It is horrifyingly obvious now that getting more attention isn’t necessarily favoritism.” — N.K. Jemisin

9. “Favoritism is the sin of society. You show bias for one, pulling down efforts of many.” — Chitra

10. “Playing favorites is always a bad thing; you can do great harm in seemingly harmless ways.” — Proverbs 28:21

Insightful favoritism quotes

This collection of favoritism quotes reminds us to be mindful of how it manifests.

11. “I don’t want to be your favorite or your best. I want to be your only and forget the rest.” — Chinier Bennett

12. “Anything that suggests the possibility of favoritism really begins to work against the public confidence.” — Burt Greenwald

13. “And since “God shows personal favoritism to no man; nothing and no one can block my destiny.” — Deborah Smith Pegues

14. “If we treated everyone we meet with the same affection we bestow upon our favorite cat, they, too, would purr.” — Martin Delany

15. “Fate is never too generous, even to its favorites. Rarely do the gods grant a mortal more than one immortal deed.” — Stefan Zweig

16. “If parasitism, favoritism, corruption, and greed for the unearned did not exist, a mixed economy would bring them into existence.” — Ayn Rand

17. “I am a great foe of favoritism in public life, in private life, and even in the delicate relationship of an author to his works.” — Joseph Conrad

18. “When favoritism speaks and works more than the skills or talent. This happens everywhere. Yes, just everywhere.” — Priyalaxmi’s Musings

19. “Everyone has their favorite criminals. Mine are pimps. We can all rob a bank; we can all sell drugs. Being a pimp is a whole other thing.” — Chris Rock

20. “Favoritism manifests itself in all departments of government, public and private. It is harder to avoid because it is so natural.” — Thomas Chandler Haliburton

Favoritism quotes for friends

In all walks of life and our social circles, favoritism can rear its head.

21. “Playing favorites is one of the most damaging problems in any group of people.” — Robert Whipple

22. “Leaders who practice favoritism in the workplace have no chance to build a culture of trust.” — Robert Whipple

23. “In many fields of the administration of interventionist measures, favoritism simply cannot be avoided.” — Ludwig von Mises

24. “Believers, if opting to practice Favoritism, will fail miserably to build a relationship of Mutual Trust & True Respect for themselves.” — Santosh Thankachan

25. “Favoritism creates bitterness and hatred. Never try to be the favorite sibling of your parents but rather make your siblings proud of your parents.” — Amoako Theophilus

26. “It has to do with favoritism, of promotion, and transfers. If you are not a supporter of the chief, you’re an outcast. If you are a supporter of the chief, you’re in.” — Tenari Ma’afala

27. “Savages cling to a local god of one tribe or town. The broad ethics of Jesus were quickly narrowed to village theologies, which preach an election or favoritism.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

28. “Some of the old refs have favoritism toward some of the fighters that are currently fighting. There should be a changing of the guard with the refs, the same way there are with fighters.” — Roberto Duran

29. “Favoritism’ is always a factor, and pressure always builds for the appointment of friends of influential supporters of the President, or for the nominees of powerful Members of Congress from the incoming President’s party.” — Richard Allen

30. “Let a woman’s claim be as broad in the concrete as the abstract. We take our stand on the solidarity of humanity, the oneness of life, and the unnaturalness and injustice of all special favoritism, whether of sex, race, country, or condition. If one link of the chain is broken, the chain is broken.” — Anna Julia Cooper

Favoritism quotes to inspire and teach

People have a lot to say about favoritism; these quotes highlight their passion.

31. “Fortune converts everything to the advantage of her favorites.” — François De La Rochefoucauld

32. “Karma is justice. It does not reward or punish. It shows no favoritism because we have to earn all that we receive. Karma doesn’t predestine anyone or anything.” — Mary T Browne

33. “What you sow, you reap. It’s a law of nature. Network Marketing is perfectly aligned with that. You get truly, EXACTLY what you’re worth! No nepotism, no favoritism. That’s rare today.” — Bob Proctor

34. “Some of the old refs have favoritism toward some of the fighters that are currently fighting. There should be a changing of the guard with the refs, the same way there are with fighters.” — Roberto Duran

35. “For such is the favoritism and nepotism always prevailing in the purlieus of these establishments, that some incompetent persons are always admitted, to the exclusion of many of the worthy.” — Herman Melville

36. “Protectionism, socialism, all varieties of state favoritism and restrictions on competition, and the growth of bureaucracy and jobbery were the means by which special interests sought to exploit the public, the great mass of consumers and taxpayers.” — Ralph Raico

37. “We have the incredible privilege of serving in the highest offices in the state. We must prove ourselves worthy of our fellow citizens’ faith. We must be trusted to always place the public’s good above our own and to always choose fairness over favoritism.” — Jodi Rell

38. “We don’t want insurance companies becoming monopolies looking for favoritism in a cronyistic way in Washington. We want health insurers, hospitals, doctors, all providers of health care benefits competing against each other for our business as consumers.” — Paul Ryan

39. “In order to not show blatant favoritism, I must take into consideration individual needs and do my best to treat everyone the right way. This means not treating everyone the same way. But then, won’t I appear to be playing favorites to some outside observers.” — Robert Whipple

40. “Secondly, as a result of this political favoritism, the FDA has become a primary factor in that formula whereby cartel-oriented companies in the food and drug industry are able to use the police powers of government to harass or destroy their free-market competitors.” — G. Edward Griffin

Favoritism quotes for the workplace

A workplace is a place where favoritism can rear its head.

41. “No drug or amount of money or favoritism can ever give you belief in yourself.” — Ronda Rousey

42. “I don’t want to be your favorite or your best. I want to be your only and forget the rest.” — Chenier Bennett

43. “Some people would regard people who look like they do as ugly if they did not look like them.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

44. “The best jobs in town are reserved for the politician’s distant cousins.” ― Michael Bassey Johnson, Before You Doubt Yourself

45. “If children feel there is some favoritism going on in the family, it can potentially create some real problems.” — Dr. Pamela Schuetze

46. “When we overlook the errors of people we like and favor. We are crippling the society because others look up to them and are copying from them.” ― De Philosopher DJ Kyos

47. “It is only too obvious that favoritism inevitably exists: it would have been useless to complain to human beings. So I said nothing of the truth.” ― Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human

48. “Favoritism’ is always a factor, and pressure always builds for the appointment of friends of influential supporters of the President, or for the nominees of powerful Members of Congress from the incoming President’s party.” – Richard Allen

49. “It looks perverted and wasteful to us, but then one thing that empires are not about is the efficient use of resources and the spread of happiness; both are typically accomplished despite the economic short-circuiting – corruption and favoritism, mostly- endemic to the system.” — Iain Banks

50. “My hope is that digital technology will level things out more and that it will eventually eliminate favoritism. But technology cannot do it alone. The audience has to become more discriminating as well and not buy into every big tentpole movie because they have been brainwashed into thinking that’s the movie to see.” — Lexi Alexander