| golden rule | |
| —n | |
| 1. | any of a number of rules of fair conduct, such as Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them (Matthew 7:12) or thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (Leviticus 19:28) |
| 2. | any important principle: a golden rule of sailing is to wear a life jacket |
| 3. | (Brit) the principle advocated by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown (in office 1997–2007) that a government should only borrow to invest |
| 4. | another name for rule of three |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
golden rule
precept in the Gospel of Matthew (7:12): "In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. . . ." This rule of conduct is a summary of the Christian's duty to his neighbour and states a fundamental ethical principle. In its negative form, "Do not do to others what you would not like done to yourselves," it occurs in the 2nd-century documents Didache and the Apology of Aristides and may well have formed part of an early catechism. It recalls the command to "love the stranger (sojourner)" as found in Deuteronomy. It is not, however, peculiar to Christianity. Its negative form is to be found in Tob. 4:15, in the writings of the two great Jewish scholars Hillel (1st century BC) and Philo of Alexandria (1st centuries BC and AD), and in the Analects of Confucius (6th and 5th centuries BC). It also appears in one form or another in the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, and Seneca
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