reaping what one sows
Getting deserved results
Reaping what one sows expresses the idea that one's actions have consequences—good or bad—that eventually return to the actor.
The agricultural metaphor is straightforward: if you plant wheat, you harvest wheat; if you plant weeds, you get weeds.
The phrase typically carries a moralizing tone, often invoked when someone suffers consequences of their own making: He cheated his partners for years, and now he's bankrupt—just reaping what he sowed.
It can also apply positively to deserved success.
- habitsRegular repeated behaviors
- karmaSpiritual cause and effect
- what goes around comes aroundActions have matching consequences
- justiceFair treatment under law
- sowingPlanting for cultivation
butterfly effect · causality · integrity · chain reaction · harvesting · fairness · virtue · feedback loop · accountability · planting · consequence · cause and effect · intention · cultivating · germination · reciprocity · inevitability · come full circle
reaping what one sowsblind chance
accident · fortune · happenstance · luck of the draw · roll of the dice
reaping what one sowsgetting away with it
innocent suffering · injustice · beginner's luck · windfall · ill-gotten gains