Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«El que a hierro mata, a hierro muere.»
Word for word
He who kills by iron, dies by iron.
What it really means
The closest English equivalent: Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Warns that the harm you do to others will eventually come back to you. Used as a moral observation about violence or cruelty.
Hear it in a sentence
El que a hierro mata, a hierro muere, y tarde o temprano pagará por sus actos.
Live by the sword, die by the sword, and sooner or later he'll pay for his actions.
Why learn dichos?
Proverbs like this one are everywhere in spoken Spanish — dropped mid-conversation, usually just the first half, with the rest left for you to complete. Recognizing them is one of the fastest ways to sound less like a textbook and follow real speech. Every Lingocito edition signs off with the dicho del día, so you meet one a day next to news written at your exact level.