User:A nice knock-down argument

“If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what ought to be done remains undone; if what ought to be done remains undone, then morals and arts will deteriorate; if morals and arts deteriorate, then justice will go astray; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above all else.” - Confucius, Analects 13.3

Another translation:

If terms be incorrect, then statements do not accord with facts; and when statements and facts do not accord, then business is not properly executed. When business is not properly executed, order and harmony do not flourish; when order and harmony do not flourish, then justice becomes arbitrary; and when justice becomes arbitrary, the people do not know how to move hand or foot. Hence whatever a wise man states he can always define, and what he so defines, he can always carry into practice; for the wise man will on no account have anything remiss in his definitions.

Trans. Thomas Crofts, Dover Thrift Edition

...and that shows that there are three hundred and sixty-four days when you get un-birthday presents--” “Certainly,” said Alice. “And only one for birthday presents, you know, There’s glory for you!” “I don't know what you mean by ‘glory,’ ” Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don't -- till I tell you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!” “But ‘glory’ doesn't mean “a nice knock-down argument,” Alice objected. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean--neither more nor less.” “The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there"; VI. Humpty Dumpty; (1872)