Thread: You reap what you sow

I hate that expression. Maybe it's because my father used to say that to me all the time when I was a kid and he was unhappy with me.

Really what does it mean? Afterall you plant the seeds you water and cultivate and use fertilizer and pesticide and of course you have a bumper crop.

Nonsense, the winds come and new diseases come and hail comes and birds and things you have no control over, even plain bad luck just like life.

So really the saying is nonsense because it implies you work hard and everything comes out great for you.

Right? Or is there more to it and I'm missing something or did my father sell me a bill of goods?

i always thought that expression applied to simpler things.. like..

you go around hating.. you get hated..

Urban Dictionary: you reap what you sow

or...

You reap what you sow is a simpler of way of referring to a quote in the Biblical New Testament, in Paul’s letters to the Galatians. This is often just referred to as Galatians. Galatia was located in what is now Turkey, and Paul’s letters to the Christian communities that lived there remain important in Christian thought and theology. The specific quote in the King James Version of the Bible is “whatsoever a man soweth, that he shall also reap.”

or...

You reap what you sow. also As you sow, so shall you reap. (formal)
something that you say which means everything that happens to you is a result of your own actions.

On the lighter side, how about some variations of that old proverb. My dad use to tell me, "son, you made your bed, now you can sleep in it".
My uncle has one I love, "you bought the bike, now you peddle it".

If you plant a BS seed expect it to turn into a BS tree.

The more I practice, the luckier I get

Originally Posted by HNSB

If you plant a BS seed expect it to turn into a BS tree.

That's exactly how I see it.

If you go to the store and start yelling at the cashier, don't expect to get a nice smile in return. - Your crappy attitude (the seed) reaped a p!ssed off cashier.

Now go into the same store, but be nice, smile and even compliment the cashier if you're in a really good mood. Chances are you'll get something better than a murderous look from her. Your great attitude (the seed) reaped a relatively happy cashier.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

So really the saying is nonsense because it implies you work hard and everything comes out great for you.

No, I think the saying implies that IF you work hard things CAN come out great for you.

I agree that you can't control everything, and sometimes no matter how hard you work things turn to sh!t. It would be completely unfair to use the "reap what you sow" saying in this case and that person needs to be b!tch slapped.

But if you don't work hard when all the stars align for your project to work, chances are you missed an oppertunity for success and you have only yourself to blame if it all turns to sh!t.