“What goes around comes around” is the everyday expression of karma — the way our actions eventually return to us. Here is what it means, where it comes from, how to use it, and a few sayings that share its sense of cosmic bookkeeping.
What Does “What Goes Around Comes Around” Mean?
The proverb means that the way you treat others — and the kind of energy you put into the world — eventually comes back to you, for good or ill. Treat people well and good things tend to find their way back; behave badly and it returns to bite you in time. It is a folk version of karma, often said with quiet satisfaction when someone’s bad behaviour catches up with them.
Origin of the Proverb
The principle is ancient — “as you sow, so shall you reap” runs through the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita — but this particular phrasing is modern and American. It grew out of African American English and the rhetoric of Black churches in the mid-twentieth century. One of its first appearances in print is in Paul Crump’s 1962 novel Burn, Killer, Burn!, and it spread into everyday speech through the 1970s. Today it is one of the most common ways English speakers express the idea of just deserts.
Examples in a Sentence
- “He treated everyone badly on the way up, and now no one will help him — what goes around comes around.”
- “Be generous; what goes around comes around.”
- “She finally got the recognition she’d earned. What goes around comes around.”
Similar Proverbs
- You reap what you sow — your actions decide the outcomes you harvest.
- Chickens come home to roost — past misdeeds return to haunt you.
- As you sow, so shall you reap — the older, biblical phrasing.
- Karma is a boomerang — a modern way of saying the same.
For more on actions and consequences, see our you reap what you sow and religion and spirituality sayings, or browse the full library of proverbs and their meanings.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “what goes around comes around” mean?
It means the way you treat others eventually comes back to you — good actions return as good fortune, and bad ones catch up with you in time.
Where does the phrase come from?
The principle is ancient (the Bible and Bhagavad Gita), but this American phrasing grew from African American English in the mid-1900s and spread widely in the 1970s.
Is it about karma?
Yes — it is essentially a folk expression of karma: the idea that our actions return to us, balancing out over time.