A modern proverb of US origin.
No one can say why Donald Goines and Shirley Sailor were murdered. The ghetto philosophy, ‘what goes around comes around’, is the only answer most people can give. It is probably the answer Donald Goines himself would have provided.
[1974 E. Stone Donald writes no More xv.]
At this juncture another, more recent, adage springs to mind: What goes around comes around. It is, all in all, a terrific statement, and I know a lot of people who would turn handsprings if only they could be assured it was true.
[1982 H. Stein Ethics 108]
No sooner had the royal accusers sent Louis XVI and his queen to the guillotine, than they themselves were being hoist onto the tumbrels by men whose own heads would later drop into the basket. What goes around comes around.
[1989 Washington Times 19 Apr. F1]
If you were given to platitudes, you would dub this an instance of What Goes Around Comes Around. Karma. Give a little, and—30 years later—watch it land a publishing deal.
[2002 Washington Post 8 May C1]
Related to: fate and fatalism; retribution
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
