what goes around comes around

English

It Shoots Further Than He Dreams by John F. Knott, March 1918.

Alternative forms

• what go round come round, what goes round comes round, what comes around goes around

Etymology

First attested in the 1950s in sense 1, originally in African-American English.

Proverb

what goes around comes around

1. A person's actions, whether good or bad, will often have consequences for that person.
   • 2020, Ava Max, Madison Love, Måns Wredenberg, Noonie Bao, Cirkut, Linus Wiklund (lyrics and music), “Who's Laughing Now”, in Heaven & Hell‎^[1], performed by Ava Max:

     So lonely in your bed / Does breakin' me make you feel good? / Guess you don't understand / What goes around, comes around

2. Things repeat in cycles.
   • 2005, Michael Stonebraker, Joseph M. Hellerstein, “What Goes Around Comes Around”, in Joseph M. Hellerstein, Michael Stonebraker, editors, Readings in Database Systems, 4th edition, →ISBN, page 2:

     Unfortunately, the main proposal in the current XML era bears a striking resemblance to the CODASYL proposal from the early 1970’s, which failed because of its complexity. Hence, the current era is replaying history, and “what goes around comes around”. Hopefully the next era will be smarter.

   • 2006, Peter-Paul Koch, “Afterword”, in ppk on JavaScript, →ISBN:

     The most important one is the end of the Ajax hype. I’m not sure when it will happen, but I know that it will. What goes around comes around—what once was cool and modern will become old hat and boring.

   • 2015, Tony Levene, Investing for Dummies, 4th edition, →ISBN, page 93:

     Equally, what goes around, comes around. When it comes to investment theories, nothing new under the sun exists because ideas go stale and then get reinvented.

Translations

actions have consequences

• Arabic: لَا تَحْصِدُ إِلَّا مَا زَرَعْتَهُ (lā taḥṣidu ʔillā mā zaraʕtahu, literally “you reap only what you sow”), كَمَا تَدِينُ تُدَان (kamā tadīnu tudān)
• Azerbaijani: nə tökərsən aşına, o da çıxar qaşığına
• Bulgarian: каквото повикало, такова се обадило (kakvoto povikalo, takova se obadilo); всичко се връща (vsičko se vrǎšta); на каквото си постелеш, на такова ще легнеш (na kakvoto si posteleš, na takova šte legneš)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 善有善報，惡有惡報／善有善报，恶有恶报 (zh) (shànyǒushànbào, èyǒu'èbào); 種瓜得瓜／种瓜得瓜 (zh) (zhòngguādéguā); 種豆得豆／种豆得豆 (zh) (zhòngdòudédòu), 媳婦熬成婆／媳妇熬成婆 (zh) (xífù áo chéng pó), 因果循环，报应不爽。

• Czech: jak se do lesa volá, tak se z lesa ozývá (cs)
• Danish: hvad et menneske sår skal han høste, som man råber i skoven får man svar (da), man ligger som man reder
• Dutch: wie wind zaait, zal storm oogsten; dat komt ervan, wie de bal kaatst, moet hem terug verwachten
• Esperanto: kia ago tia pago, kiu semas venton tiu rikoltos ventegon
• Finnish: minkä taakseen jättää, sen edestään löytää, niin metsä vastaa kuin sinne huudetaan, niin makaat kuin petaat
• French: on récolte ce que l’on sème (fr), qui sème le vent récolte la tempête (fr)
• German: wie man in den Wald hineinruft, so schallt es heraus (de) (literally “what you shout into the forest, will echo out again”); man erntet, was man sät (literally “you reap what you sow”); wie man sich bettet, so liegt man (literally “as you make your bed, so you must lie in it”); die Vergangenheit holt einen immer ein (literally “your past always catches up with you”); das kommt davon (de) (literally “that comes from that”); sowas kommt von sowas (literally “such a thing comes from such a thing”); wie du mir, so ich dir (literally “as you do to me, I do to you”), alles rächt sich irgendwann
• Hebrew: שלח לחמך על פני המים כי ברבות הימים תמצאנו, מה שנותנים ־ מקבלים, כל אחד מקבל בסוף מה שמגיע לו, הגלגל מסתובב, גלגל חוזר בעולם
• Hungarian: ki mint vet, úgy arat (hu), amilyen az adjonisten, olyan a fogadjisten (hu)
• Italian: chi semina vento raccoglie tempesta, chi la fa l'aspetti, si raccoglie ciò che si semina
• Jamaican Creole: same knife stick sheep, stick goat
• Japanese: 因果応報 (ja) (いんがおうほう, inga-ōhō), 業によりて果を引く (ごうによりてかをひく, gō ni yorite ka o hiku)
• Korean: 뿌린대로 거둔다 (ppurindaero geodunda)
• Malay: buat baik dibalas baik, buat jahat dibalas jahat
• Norwegian: man høster som man sår
• Persian: از هر دست بدهی از همان دست می‌گیری (az har dast bedahi, az hamân dast migiri), خلایق هرچه لایق (xalâyeq harče lâyeq)
• Polish: co z siebie dajesz, to do ciebie wraca, jak Kuba Bogu, tak Bóg Kubie (pl), jak sobie pościelesz, tak się wyśpisz (pl), fortuna kołem się toczy (pl)
• Portuguese: quem semeia ventos colhe tempestades, aqui se faz, aqui se paga (pt), você colhe o que planta, o mundo dá voltas, tudo que vai volta, chumbo trocado não dói (pt), cá se fazem, cá se pagam (literally “What you do, you pay for”)
• Romanian: Dumnezeu nu bate cu parul
• Russian: как ау́кнется, так и откли́кнется (ru) (kak aúknetsja, tak i otklíknetsja), что посе́ешь, то и пожнёшь (što poséješʹ, to i požnjóšʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: sve se vraća, sve se plaća; kako siješ tako žanješ
• Spanish: todo cae por su propio peso, donde las dan, las toman
• Swedish: som man bäddar får man ligga, som man sår får man skörda, svinhugg går igen
• Tagalog: kung anong itinanim, siya ring aanihin
• Tamil: திணை விதைத்தவன் திணை அறுப்பான் (tiṇai vitaittavaṉ tiṇai aṟuppāṉ), வினை விதைத்தவன் வினை அறுப்பான் (viṉai vitaittavaṉ viṉai aṟuppāṉ)
• Thai: กงเกวียนกำเกวียน (th) (gong-gwiian-gam-gwiian), กรรมใดใครก่อ กรรมนั้นคืนสนอง (gam-dai-krai-gɔ̀ɔ gam-nán-yɔ̂m-kʉʉn-sà-nɔ̌ɔng), กรรมตามสนอง (gam-dtaam-sà-nɔ̌ɔng), ให้ทุกข์แก่ท่าน ทุกข์นั้นถึงตัว (hâi-túk-gɛ̀ɛ-tân túk-nán-tʉ̌ng-dtuua)
• Turkish: başkasına fenalık eden kendine etmiş olur
• Uzbek: qaytar dunyo
• Vietnamese: ác giả ác báo (vi), đời cha ăn mặn, đời con khát nước

things repeat in cycles

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: Ç'të mbjellësh, do korrësh
• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} كَمَا تَدِينُ تُدَانُ (kamā tadīnu tudānu, literally “As you judge, you will be judged”), ^{(please verify)} أكلت يوم أكل الثور الأبيض
• Finnish: se, mikä menee ylös, tulee myös alas, ympäri käydään, yhteen tullaan
• Georgian: რასაცა დასთეს, იმას მოიმკი (rasaca dastes, imas moimḳi)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} ako sa do hory volá, tak sa z hory ozýva
• Spanish: recoges lo que siembras, arrieros somos, y en el camino nos encontraremos
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} สูงสุดคืนสู่สามัญ (sǔung-sùt-kʉʉn-sùu-sǎa-man), ^{(please verify)} ใครทำอะไรก็ได้ผลตามนั้น (krai tam arai gôr dâai pŏn taam nán)
• Turkish: ne ekersen onu biçersin
• Vietnamese: gậy ông đập lưng ông (vi)

See also

• bite in the arse
• bite in the ass
• boomerang
• circular firing squad
• come back to bite
• come back to haunt
• come full circle
• fuck around and find out (vulgar)
• golden rule
• karma
• old sins have long shadows
• play stupid games, win stupid prizes
• reap what one sows
• skeleton in the closet
• sow the wind, reap the whirlwind
• the chickens come home to roost

 

Further reading

• Jennifer Speake, editor (2015), “What GOES around comes around”, in Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, 6th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 131.