Reap what you sow
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
Experience consequences that correspond to one's earlier actions. Often negative, but the underlying agricultural analogy permits beneficial consequences too. Regional use: Late Middle English biblical translation; now widespread.
Origin
Galatians 6:7 uses farming as a moral analogy: whatever a person sows, that person will also reap. The Wycliffe Bible has a close Middle English version of the sentence. Both verbs were already ordinary agricultural words, but the verse made their cause-and-consequence pairing especially durable. The expression can refer to good results as well as punishment, although modern use is often warning or critical.
Research Sources
Variants
- As you sow, so shall you reap
Usage Examples
- Treat the apprentices well, because you reap what you sow.
- After years of mentoring apprentices, the firm reaped what it had sown when several became expert craftspeople.
- The firm ignored repeated warnings and eventually reaped what it had sown.