他人を己を持って計ってはいけない。

English Translation

You must not judge others by yourself.

It’s a common mistake by native speakers. 計る should be replaced with 測る.
There are (at least) four homophones of はかる.

  • 計る: “to measure something mathematically”, and the targets are usually time span or the number of items. Or “to project/guess the future” is also 計る. Its connotation is “calculative” or “counting down”.
  • 測る: also “to measure something mathematically”, and the targets are length/width, size of area (i.e. two-dimensional), or degree (of temperature and abilities etc.) Its connotation is “assessment”.
  • 量る: also “to measure something mathematically”, and the targets are volume of a product (i.e. three-dimensional) or weight of it.
  • 図る: “to strategize a plan” or “to attempt”. No meaning of “measurement” in 図る.

Going back to the Japanese sentence, I believe that “to judge” is “to assess someone else’s abilities and values”. It’s not related to time span or the number of products to count down. So, 計る in this context is incorrect.
You can learn more about the differences of the four homophones here and here.


Also, 己を持って is incorrect. It should be 以って (another homophone). 持って means “to have/possess” whereas 以って means “by means of”. The Japanese sentence means “do not use your own measurement/criteria to assess other’s abilities and values”. There is no nuance of “possession”.

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