夫物之不齐

夫物之不齊

fúwùzhībùqí

phrase

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 "fú wù zhī bù qí, wù zhī qíng yě", jiǎng de zhèng shì 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, fú wù zhī bù qí, 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