pay the piper

English

Sense 1 is from the English phrase who pays the piper calls the tune; sense 2 may allude to the pied piper.

pay the piper (third-person singular simple present pays the piper, present participle paying the piper, simple past and past participle paid the piper)

(idiomatic) To pay expenses for something, and thus be in a position to be in control.
- 1898 August 1, Swami Vivekananda, “To Swami Brahmananda”, in The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda:
  Those that pay the piper must command the tune.
- 1905, George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara:
  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.
(idiomatic) To 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.
- 1831, April 16, Dandy Doricourt, letter to the editors, The New-York mirror, volume 8, issue number 41, page 325:
  [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.
- 1921, Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton, chapter 10, in The Sisters-In-Law:
  He wanted to get rich too quickly I suppose. . . . He's got to pay the piper.
- 2006 June 25, Candice Millard, “The River of Doubt”, in Time:
  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."

(to control by paying for): pay the fiddler
(to incur negative consequences of one's decision): pay the price, pay the penalty