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 must be done remains
undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; 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
everything.
-- Confucius. The Sayings of Confucius, Book 13, Verse 3
[translator unattributed]