who digs a trap for others ends up in it himself

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

One who tries to harm others will ultimately harm themselves

Literally: who digs a trap for others ends up in it himself

Examples

He tried to sabotage his colleague, but who digs a trap for others ends up in it himself.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “who digs a trap for others ends up in it himself” mean?

One who tries to harm others will ultimately harm themselves Literally: who digs a trap for others ends up in it himself

Is “who digs a trap for others ends up in it himself” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.