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There is an idiom in my language that translates to something like:
If you don't do anything about the robber when he's robbing your neighbor's house, then next house he will rob is yours.
Essentially, standing for other's rights is equivalent to standing for your own.
Is there any idiom or phrase in English that conveys this point?
I have done some research and here is what I have found.
The most popular similar phrase from a meaning point of view that used to be common in English usage (but is not any more) is a Latin phrase: -
"Proximus ardet Ucalegon"
It was popular in the English language from about 1643 (earliest reference I could find in popular usage) and was still popular in 1849. The notion that if you do not help a neighbour who has a house on fire, yours may well be next was also a popular notion as these excerpts from early American sources testify (reference: Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases - here): -
"He that will not help to quench the Fire in his Neighbours House, may justly fear to lose his own." - Hubbard Indian, 1677.
"It is an old & wise caution that when our Neighbours house is on fire we ought to take care of our own." - Colden Letters, 1737.
"...a prudent man should lend his assitance to extinguish the flames which had invaded the house of his next door neighbour, and not coldly wait until the flame had reached his own." - Lee Letters, 1768.
"Yet when neighbors' houses are afire, our own is always in danger" - Jefferson Papers, 1791.
In fact the idea became so popular that it is referred to as a "common observation" in the (Lee Letters of 1768) already quoted.
The latin phrase I have mentioned above: -
"proximus ardet Ucalegon" I've managed to track down to Virgil's Aeneid, and the phrase translates literally to "Ucalegon burns next" (according to Virgil's account the house of Ucalegon, burned down when the city was sacked). The word Ucalegon is not in any modern dictionaries, but according to this source is listed in Webster's New International Dictionary (2nd ed., 1954) as follows: -
"Ucalegon … In Trojan legend, one of the ancient counselors who sat with Priam on the wall. Aeneas speaks of the flames reaching Ucalegon’s house, next to that of Anchises, before he fled from the city. Hence, a next-door neighbor, or a neighbor whose house is on fire..."
The same source I quoted above references an Essay by Thomas de Quincey which I've located here, and this attests to what is quoted in the reference above: that Quincey does actually refer to the phrase as "rather too trite," indicating it must have been very popular at the time.
So this was certainly a very popular phrase in 1849 when this essay was penned. You might note in the Winthrop Papers of 1643, (already referenced indirectly above) an extension of the phrase, "...proximus ardet" is used to describe the very idea you have related.
Also
If you are looking for a modern day phrase here are a couple I have come up with...
"Preclude your demise, support your neighbour".
"Help your neighbour or suffer the consequences".
"To turn your back on your neighbour is to turn your back on good fortune".
"Woe betide he who fails to help his neighbour".
"Help your neighbour, help yourself".
These are my own inventions so hardly in popular usage but in the absence of any more popular 'modern' phrases that come close to conveying this meaning, I thought they might give you some ideas!
"United we stand, divided we fall," so common it has its own Wikipedia entry.
Another flavor begins, "First they came...," attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) from his poem:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Another famous quote on a similar vein from Benjamin Franklin is "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."
There are also expressions like "Stick together for safety," "there's safety in numbers," and others to convey the idea that we are stronger together (actually a current political campaign theme).
Another very succinct term for the example provided is neighborhood watch, "A program of systematic local vigilance by residents of a neighborhood to discourage crime, especially burglary." It has become a large program in the U.S., Neighborhood Watch.
The following is a quote by JFK from civil rights announcement of 1963 that I find very powerful. I know its not an idiom or a phrase but I hope you find it inspiring for what you need:
The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened
Very useful question here. I think this has a very fatalistic connotation to it, but it does suit the general premise:
Join, or die.
"Join, or Die is a well-known political cartoon, created by Benjamin Franklin and first published in his Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754. It is a woodcut showing a snake cut into eighths, with each segment labeled with the initials of one of the American colonies or regions. New England was represented as one segment, rather than the four colonies it was at that time. Delaware was not listed separately as it was part of Pennsylvania. Georgia, however, was omitted completely. Thus, it has eight segments of snake rather than the traditional 13 colonies.[3] The two northernmost British American colonies at the time, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, were not represented, nor were any British Caribbean possessions. The cartoon appeared along with Franklin's editorial about the "disunited state" of the colonies, and helped make his point about the importance of colonial unity."
The general idea is that if you don't join together with your community and fellow countrymen, you yourself run the risk of dying separately. Dying here is hyperbolic and metaphorical in nature, i.e. you won't necessarily die if you don't join together, but you will suffer more.
A similar term in English is:
All for one, and one for all
This is a motto traditionally associated with the titular heroes of the novel The Three Musketeers written by Alexandre Dumas père, first published in 1844. It has been derived from the Latin phrase unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno.
...[The phrase] came into widespread use in the 19th century. After autumn storms had caused widespread floods in the Swiss Alps in late September and early October 1868, officials launched an aid campaign under that slogan...
This phrase can be used in different contexts, but essentially means that all that stands up for another person right is equivalent to standing up for your own right and that of others.
If said in an upbeat way, this phrase:
in the same boat
informal
: in the same unpleasant or difficult situation : affected by the same problem "We're all in the same boat".All in the same boat
facing the same challenges and needing to work together - GoEnglish
Part of the meaning is conveyed by the phrase "You might be next", and with some context it will be understood that in suggesting this, you imply "Do something (while you can)". But of course this is less metaphorical and more of an injunction.
To me, the best answer could be:
"save others to save yourself"
or
"save others so that they save you".
An idiom has to be worded easily so that it cuts across the masses. The idioms suggested in the answer are just that.
You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours suggests the idea of mutual help:
- Fig. You do a favor for me and I'll do a favor for you.; If you do something for me that I cannot do for myself, I will do something for you that you cannot do for yourself. I'll grab the box on the top shelf if you will creep under the table and pick up my pen. You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
I don't know that there's going to be a single word that describes that exactly (although karma still comes strongly to mind). But it essentially sounds like a word that specifically portends bad fortune by way of negligence.
Some might call it:
fate
they got what was coming
turnabout is fair play
Here's some alternates:
united/united front (we are united and fight for a common cause, united we stand, divided we fall)
solidarity (showing solidarity)
common purpose
An actual crime reference (that doesn't fit exactly), but not used so much in speech:
broken window theory
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I like the comment referring to karma. In one word, people will know exactly what you mean.
If, on the off chance that in your language, there is some pleasure derived from your misfortune, then
schadenfreude
could be used, which often includes the implied belief that you're not deriving pleasure because you're evil, but because that person 'had it coming', that somehow, maybe the misfortune tilted the world back towards good, etc.
For example, if someone is stealing a woman's purse, and as they are running away, they fall into a hole from which they can't escape and maybe got a little bruised up, you could say you felt a little schadenfreude at the thief's injury and predicament.
For your example, if there's also the implied belief that protecting your neighbor is an expectation, then there could be schadenfreude felt among the other neighbors when your house is not protected and thus robbed, after you have not helped protect theirs.
A bible quote, Matthew 25:40
And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!
This is in the middle of the parable of the sheep and the goats, with Jesus declaring solidarity with the sick, poor, prisoners, etc. and exhorting his followers that if they care for the lowest people in the world, they are judged sheep and go to heaven. If they ignore the problems of the hungry, prisoners, and the like, they mistreated Jesus, are judged goats, and go to hell.
Its not perfect, the solidarity is declared by Jesus, and the listener judged, rather than convinced or shown to have solidarity themselves. But bible parables do permeate western culture and is the echo behind these quotes:
Mahatma Gandhi
A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.
Nelson Mandela
A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.
Ubi concordia, ibi victoria. Where there is unity, there is strength.
