Faustian bargain

Cultural  

1. Faust, in the legend, traded his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge. To “strike a Faustian bargain” is to be willing to sacrifice anything to satisfy a limitless desire for knowledge or power.

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Example Sentences

But if the episode is meant as a moral fork in the road, in which the hero refuses a Faustian bargain, Varoufakis nonetheless seems a bit too impressed with himself over this intimate encounter with the ultimate insider, a man who had haunted the capitalist world’s corridors of power for more than 30 years.

From Salon

“The Faustian bargain we make when we improve neighborhoods is in doing so, you drive out people who can no longer afford to live here,” said Drew Dutcher, president of the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood association and one of the few longtime White residents.

From Washington Post

But critics warn that captive breeding is a Faustian bargain.

From Los Angeles Times

It was a Faustian bargain that made Hawking the preeminent scientist of our lifetimes—but at a cost.

From Scientific American

“I thought it was a good starting point for me to explore issues of identity, art and freedom. I asked myself, ‘What if this person had been a Syrian refugee and had to make this Faustian bargain to live in Europe?’”

From Los Angeles Times