bring one's own hide to market

English

Alternative forms

• carry one's own hide to market
• take one's own hide to market

Etymology

Probably from a German proverb, notably adapted by Karl Marx to describe the exploited worker who must sell himself (his own hide) in the labor market; the denotative metaphoric analogy is to bringing animal hides to market, but simultaneously also the self-evident connotative overtones are of chattel slavery and prostitution, in which human corporeality is exploited and personhood is devalued; in the quote below, the word hiding lends both its literal and figurative senses to the parsing: both literal skinning (of an animal) and also flogging and fleecing (of a person, that is, beating and robbing):

1867, Karl Marx, trans. Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling, Capital, vol. 1 ch. 6:

[T]he possessor of labour-power follows […] , timid and holding back, like one who is bringing his own hide to market and has nothing to expect but — a hiding.

Verb

bring one's own hide to market (third-person singular simple present brings one's own hide to market, present participle bringing one's own hide to market, simple past and past participle brought one's own hide to market)

1. (US, idiomatic, often in proverbial form) To create one's own fate, as a result of one's chosen character and actions; to experience the appropriate consequences of one's behavior.
   • 1869, Berthold Auerbach, chapter 8, in Charles C. Shackford, transl., The Country-house on the Rhine, page 223:

     "[T]hou art a living passenger upon this earth, and must look out for thyself. Help yourself! Nobody forwards thee to thy destination; and we Germans have a proverb that comes near it in meaning: 'Each one must carry his own hide to market.'"

   • 1989, John Updike, “A Letter to My Grandsons”, in Self-Consciousness: Memoirs, Random House, →ISBN:

     In this grandfatherly letter about my paternal grandfather, whom I never knew, let me end by offering you, as part of your heritage, this saying ascribed to my other grandfather, John Hoyer, whom I knew well, who watched me grow from infancy and who lived in good health until he was over ninety. You carry your own hide to market.

   • 2010 March 30, “Murder charge filed in Roodhouse woman's death”, in The Telegraph, Alton, Illinois, retrieved 2 May 2019:

     Arnold said whoever was responsible for her sister's death eventually will face punishment. "I don't know why they did it to her," Arnold said. "But like I said, it's over with. But they've got to take their hide to market."

   • 2019 January 22, “CNN Transcript, "State of the Union" broadcast”, in CNN.com, retrieved 29 April 2019:

     Avlon: Rudy Giuliani . . . made it really clear in sort of a fit of fatalism that he doesn't feel responsible for his legacy. And that's ultimately his choice. You take your own hide to market.

See also

• make one's bed and lie in it
• reap what one sows
• stew in one's juices