Hanging and wiving go by destiny.

The proverb places two starkly different turns in a person’s life—marriage and execution—under the power of destiny. Its jarring pairing gives a fatalistic view of outcomes that people might otherwise expect to control.

It can also temper confident predictions about someone’s future. A person may make plans or face danger, but the proverb suggests that the final outcome is not theirs alone to decide.

Use it to express a fatalistic response to uncertainty about marriage or a grave outcome, especially when someone speaks as though the result is settled. Its reference to hanging is stark, and its wording about marriage is old-fashioned.