Procrustean bed

or procrustean bed

noun

a plan or scheme to produce uniformity or conformity by arbitrary or violent methods.

After Procrustes, the bandit from Greek mythology who stretched or amputated the limbs of travelers to make them conform to the length of his bed.

It is an error to suppose that beauty must be racked on a procrustean bed of formula.

On its Procrustean bed the stunted members of the race are racked; the giants are cut down.

But they had no right to tyrannise over others, and tie them down to their own procrustean bed.

Iron-bound, impersonal ethics, the procrustean bed of rules, he soon saw at their true value as the deification of averages.

Freethought has no procrustean bed upon which it may bring all of its constituency to one and the same size.

April 17, 2024axolotl

[ak-suh-lot-l ]

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