Golden Rule (“He who has the gold makes the rules”)
Remember the Golden Rule (1971), by Brant Parker and Johnny Hart, is the title of a collection of The Wizard of Id newspaper cartoons. In one cartoon from May 1965, the king declares: “REMEMBER THE GOLDEN RULE!” A peasant asks: “WHAT THE HECK IS THE GOLDEN RULE?” A musician replies: “WHOEVER HAS THE GOLD MAKES THE RULES.”
The original “golden rule” is to do unto others what you would like to be done to you. The Wizard of Id‘s version has become very popular. Another, more cynical version of the “golden rule” is: “Do unto others before they do unto you!”
[This entry was assisted by research from the Quote Investigator.]
Wikipedia: The Wizard of Id
The Wizard of Id is a daily newspaper comic strip created by American cartoonists Brant Parker and Johnny Hart. It began in 1964. In 1997 Brant Parker passed his duties with the strip on to his son Jeff Parker, who had already been involved with creating Id for a decade. Currently the strip appears in some 1,000 newspapers over the world. It is syndicated by Creators Syndicate.
The strip follows the antics of a large cast of characters in a shabby medieval kingdom called Id.
The name for the strip is a play on The Wizard of Oz combined with the Freudian psychological term Id, which represents the instinctive and primal part of the human psyche. From time to time the king refers to his subjects as “Idiots”.
Wikipedia: Ethic of reciprocity
The ethic of reciprocity, also known as the Golden Rule, is an ethical code that states one has a right to just treatment, and a responsibility to ensure justice for others. Reciprocity is arguably the most essential basis for the modern concept of human rights, though it has its critics. A key element of the golden rule is that a person attempting to live by this rule treats all people, not just members of his or her in-group, with consideration.
It exists in both positive (generally structured in the form of “do to others what you would like to be done to you”) and negative form (structured in the form of “do not do to others what you would not like to be done to you”). While similar those forms are not strictly the same as they differ in what to do with what you would like to be done to you but the other party would not like to be done upon it. Negative form does directly not contain that while positive form can exclude it indirectly with that you would like from others to check if you really like it, what is an example of using the golden rule in a context which makes it self-correcting, as argued in the criticisms section.
The golden rule has its roots in a wide range of world cultures, and is a standard which different cultures use to resolve conflicts; it was present in the philosophies of ancient India, Greece, and China. Principal philosophers and religious figures have stated it in different ways, but its most common English phrasing is attributed to Jesus of Nazareth in the Biblical book of Luke: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The “Do unto others” wording first appeared in English in a Catholic Catechism around 1567, but certainly in the reprint of 1583.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Main Entry: golden rule
Function: noun
Date: 1753
1 capitalized G&R : a rule of ethical conduct referring to Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31: do to others as you would have them do to you
2: a guiding principle
(Oxford English Dictionary)
golden, a.
Of rules, precepts, etc.: Of inestimable utility; often spec. with reference to the precept, ‘whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them’ (Matt. vii. 12).
1674 R. GODFREY Inj. & Ab. Physic 54 Whilst forgetting that Golden Law do as you would be done by, they make self the center of their actions.
1741 WATTS Improv. Mind I. xiv. §8 Such is that golden principle of morality which our blessed Lord has given us.
1807 Med. Jrnl. XVII. 242 The best rule in this respect is..the golden rule of Dr. Jenner; not to take matter after the areola begins to spread.
1885 HOWELLS Silas Lapham II. xxv, In our dealings with each other we should be guided by the Golden Rule.
1887 RUSKIN Præterita II. 13 ‘When you have got too much to do, don’t do it’, a golden saying.
3 May 1965, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “The Wizard of Id” (comic strip) by Parker and Hart, sec. 2, pg. 9:
KING: ...IN CONCLUSION, FELLOW PEASANTS, LET ME STRESS THE NEED FOR PEACE AND HARMONY. REMEMBER THE GOLDEN RULE…WE MUST ALL LIVE BY THE GOLDEN RULE.
PEASANT: WHAT THE HECK IS THE GOLDEN RULE?
MUSICIAN: WHOEVER HAS THE GOLD MAKES THE RULES.
Google Books
Sex Is Dead, and Other Postmortems
By Earl H. Brill
New York, NY: Seabury Press
1967
Pg. 83:
... recent comic strip, “Thw Wizard of Id.” The King was finishing up a speech with the exhortation, “And let us all remember to live by the Golden Rule.” Someone asked the Wizard what was the Golden Rule, and he answered: “The one who has the gold makes the rule.”
1 October 1969, The Press-Courier (Oxnard, CA), “Smidgens” (comic strip) by Bob Cordray, pg. 19:
WIFE: WHAT GOLDEN RULE?
HUSBAND: WHOEVER HAS THE GOLD MAKES THE RULES!
5 October 1969, Seattle (WA) Times, “Odd Parcels” by Alf Collins, pg. 4A, col. 1:
Realtors like cute saying: The K. I. S. S. system for new employes—Keep It Simple, Stupid…The Golden Rule of Lending Money—he who has the gold makes the rules…
Google Books
Uptown; Poor Whites in Chicago
By Todd Gitlin and Nanci Hollander
New York, NY: Harper & Row
1970
Pg. 301:
The golden rule: whoever has the gold makes the rules.
28 September 1970, The Nation:
“The golden rule: whoever has the gold makes the rules.”
OCLC WorldCat record
Remember the golden rule
Author: Brant Parker; Johnny Hart
Publisher: New York : Fawcett Gold Medal, ©1971.
Series: The wizard of Id
Edition/Format: Book : English
11 February 1972, Danville (VA) Bee, “A Golden Opportunity” by John Keasler, pg. 4A, col. 6:
“You’ve heard of the Golden Rule? I was the one to coin the phrase, which goes, ‘The guy that’s got the gold makes the rule.’”
(Wolfie Crater, a joke name—ed.)
Google Books
A Different Woman
By Jane Howard
New York, NY: Dutton
1973
Pg. 344:
GOLDEN RULE: HE WHO HAS THE GOLD MAKES THE RULES.
17 January 1977, Portsmouth (NH) Herald, pg. 4, col. 6:
Delaney at the Municipal Research Bureau underscores the importance of the banks in the city’s future ability to raise money by pointing to a cartoon slogan behind his desk that reads:
“Remember the Golden Rule. Whoever has the gold makes the rules.”
Google News Archive
28 February 1977, The Ledger (Lakeland, FL), pg. 3A, col. 6:
There is a golden rule of politics…He who has the gold makes the rules.
Google Books
4 December 1978, New York magazine, pg. 145, col. 2:
The Golden Rule: Whoever has the gold makes the rules.
Sabblog
Sunday, 23 September 2007
The Golden Rule
(...)
When it comes to questions of funding for local social action projects I’m fond of quoting “The Golden Rule” as defined by the Wizard of Id cartoon: “He who has the gold makes the rules”.
(The Wizard of Id cartoon is shown—ed.)