pay the piper

present singular third person pays the piper · participle present paying the piper · participle past paid the piper · past paid the piper

1. idiomaticTo pay expenses for something, and thus be in a position to be in control.

   Those that pay the piper must command the tune.

   1898 August 1, Swami Vivekananda, “To Swami Brahmananda”, in The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

   1 more example

   Be off with you, my boy, and play with your caucuses and leading articles and historic parties and great leaders and burning questions and the rest of your toys. I am going back to my counting house to pay the piper and call the tune.

   1905, George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara

   Synonyms: pay the fiddler

2. idiomaticTo pay a monetary or other debt or experience unfavorable consequences, especially when the payment or consequences are inevitable or a result of something one has enjoyed.

   He wanted to get rich too quickly I suppose. . . . He's got to pay the piper.

   1921, Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton, chapter 10, in The Sisters-In-Law

   2 more examples

   [T]he very constitution of society is based upon this volunteer system of paying the piper. Honest men pay the piper for rogues, and full purses for empty ones.

   1831, April 16, Dandy Doricourt, letter to the editors, The New-York mirror, volume 8, issue number 41, page 325

   Roosevelt never fully recovered his health, but he refused any regret. "I am always willing to pay the piper," he once wrote, "when I have had a good dance."

   2006 June 25, Candice Millard, “The River of Doubt”, in TIME, archived from the original on 27 Dec 2007

   Synonyms: pay the price, pay the penalty