Golden Rule - Wikipedia

The Golden Rule is the principle of treating others as one would want to be treated by them. It is sometimes called an ethics of reciprocity, meaning that you should reciprocate to others how you would like them to treat you (not necessarily how they actually treat you). Various expressions of this rule can be found in the tenets of most religions and creeds through the ages.[1]

The term "Golden Rule", or "Golden law", began to be used widely in the early 17th century in Britain by Anglican theologians and preachers;[2] the earliest known usage is that of Anglicans Charles Gibbon and Thomas Jackson in 1604.[3]

Possibly the earliest affirmation of the maxim of reciprocity, reflecting the ancient Egyptian goddess Ma'at, appears in the story of "The Eloquent Peasant", which dates to the Middle Kingdom (c. 2040–1650 BCE ): "Now this is the command: Do to the doer to make him do."[4][5] This proverb embodies the do ut des principle.[6] A Late Period (c. 664–323 BCE ) papyrus contains an early negative affirmation of the Golden Rule: "That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another."[7]

In Mahābhārata, the ancient epic of India, there is a discourse in which sage Brihaspati tells the king Yudhishthira the following about dharma, a philosophical understanding of values and actions that lend good order to life:

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