Easy come, easy go

¹ Cultural  

1. Things easily acquired may be lost just as easily.

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easy come, easy go ² Cultural  

1. A phrase suggesting lack of concern over how things turn out, and particularly over money: “She never took things very seriously; ‘easy come, easy go’ was her motto.”

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easy come, easy go Idioms  

1. Readily won and readily lost, as in Easy come, easy go—that's how it is for Mark when he plays the stock market. This phrase states a truth known since ancient times and expressed in numerous proverbs with slightly different wording (lightly come, lightly go; quickly come, quickly go). The adverb easy was substituted in the early 1800s.

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This saying is often used after something has been lost.

Example Sentences

Those requirements changed the meaning of time in airports, forcing travelers to cushion their trips with buffers that turned airports from easy come, easy go public places to highly secured obstacle courses.

From Slate • Jul. 10, 2025

He sings famous lyrics including "easy come, easy go, little high, little low", and "any way the wind blows".

From BBC • Sep. 20, 2022

“Bohemian Rhapsody” carried me from high school to adulthood, easy come, easy go.

From Washington Post • Feb. 21, 2019

In the digital world, easy come, easy go.

From The Guardian • May 19, 2013

Aw, guv'nor, I guess it's easy come, easy go.

From Traffic in Souls A Novel of Crime and Its Cure by Ball, Eustace Hale