夫物之不齐

夫物之不齊

fú wù zhī bù qí

quotation

Meanings

1 things are inherently unequal
2 classical opener arguing that diversity in value among things is natural - from Mencius

Characters

(classical sentence opener)

things / objects

(classical possessive)

equal / uniform

Examples

孟子说"夫物之不齐，物之情也"，讲的正是差异本是常态。

Mèngzǐ shuō " fúwùzhībùqí, wù zhī qíng yě ", jiǎng de zhèngshì chāyì běn shì chángtài.

Mencius says 'things are inherently unequal, that is their nature' - precisely arguing that inequality is the norm.

定价不该一刀切，夫物之不齐，何必强求一律？

Dìngjià bù gāi yīdāoqiē, fúwùzhībùqí, hébì qiángqiú yīlǜ?

Prices shouldn't be uniform - things differ in nature; why force them to be the same?

Tips

history

From 《孟子·滕文公上》: '夫物之不齐，物之情也。或相倍蓰，或相什百，或相千万。' Mencius rebuts a rival's idea that all goods should be priced by size alone - quality varies, so prices must too.

usage

夫 (fú, 2nd tone) here is a classical sentence-opener marker, not 'husband.' Same character, different reading.

Stroke Order

夫 fū

物 wù

之 zhī

不 bù

齐 qí