ProverbHub
EnglishLatin scriptExpression: Verified

Curses are like chickens, they come home to roost.

Meanings

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Sense: Verified
Meaning and lesson

The proverb suggests that hostility directed at someone else may eventually bring trouble to the person who expressed it.

Its returning chickens make the consequence feel fitting: what a speaker sends out does not necessarily stay with its intended target.

When it is used

Use it when someone's spiteful words or ill wishes appear to rebound on them. It can comment on an outcome without implying that a curse has any supernatural power.