- English translation
Everything you do is lent out and paid back, down to the very steps you take.
- Literal wording
All of it is a loan and a debt, even walking on the two feet.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying treats every human action as a kind of credit extended to the world, sure to be settled later. Whatever a person gives out, whether generosity or injury, eventually returns to them in matching form, so no deed is truly free of consequence.
Walking on one's own feet serves as the humblest possible example of something given, stressing that even the smallest effort is repaid; the wording names no narrower act. The proverb cuts both ways: it promises that kindness is returned and warns that harm will be paid back in kind.
- When it is used
Say it when someone's treatment of others, kind or unkind, is being returned to them, or to warn that today's slight or favor will be repaid. It fits informal conversation about reciprocity between neighbors, relatives, or friends.
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- Colloquial
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Report an issue with this meaning: Everything you do is lent out and paid back, down to the very steps you take.