Idiom "道不同不相为谋"

[sagilogo1]

An interesting figure of speech I have come across is:

"道不同不相为谋"

Meaning "There is little common ground for understanding Between persons of differing principles", and is used quite liberally whenever we want to describe a "breaking apart" or "going seperate ways" situations: 于是他们就“道不同不相为谋" - "They wandered apart"

I looked up each word:

不同 - different

不相 - incompatible

为谋 - to seek

.. but I cant figure out the whole from the sum of its parts, can anyone?

[sagilogo1]

another possibility:

相为 = phase

谋 =

noun:

plan

plot

scheme

stratagem

strategy

verb:

consult

plan

plot

scheme

seek

[leeyah]

The 反义 phrase would be 不谋而合 >>没有商量过而意见，想法一致 agree without prior consultation, happen to hold the same view

The definitions you gave in post #2 are good, but note that neither 相为 or 为谋 are independent phrases.

相 in combination with other words indicates either correlation, mutuality, interaction>> >> 相与 ,相依, 相处, 相好 or 'apartness', discrepancy >>相争, 相差, 相异， 相撞

为 is here to emphasize the meaning of 不相 (表示强调) same as in >>大为恼火

[Kenny同志]

道不同不相为谋：走着不同道路的人，就不能在一起谋划。比喻意见或志趣不同的人就无法共事。

Cited from 汉典

“于是他们就“道不同不相为谋" I am afraid it's awkward Chinese. Native speakers don't say that. ”道不同，不相为谋“ is mostly used as an independent part. Apart from the definition stated in 汉典，it carries a somewhat different meaning in which it can also be used in a humorous way. For example, when you see differently on something in a discussion with a friend and you become bored and don't want to debate any further, you can say ”不跟你争了，道不同不相为谋，呵呵。“

Edited November 15, 2009 at 01:17 AM by kenny2006woo

[chrix]

Yeah, I always thought, for the "going separate ways" bit, you'd use 分道扬镳。So like 于是他们就分道扬镳。

[jiangping]

I might be pointing out the obvious here, but it's a quote from the Analects...that's why the grammar seems a bit odd:P

I'm not sure how it would be used in modern Chinese, but I guess the phrase is put together something like this:

道不同 = path/way is different

不相 = 不互相 not mutually

為謀 = wéi in its normal verbal function: "to have discussions" or "to make plans"

Legge translates it: "Those whose courses are different cannot lay plans for one another."

楊伯峻 translates it: "主張不同，不互相商議."

[Guoke]

"道不同不相为谋"

Somehow, it reminds me of another idiom "不是冤家不聚头".

[HashiriKata]

"不是冤家不聚头"

So this is the reason we're all here?

[Guoke]

So this is the reason we're all here?

omg! 一言惊醒梦中人！

I had thought all along that we're all here because 我们"有缘千里来相会"！

Hmm...so that explains it......

[sagilogo1]

Now its looks so obvious...

Thanks especially to leeyah, kenny and jiangping

btw.. before posting I made a beginner's mistake.. mistaking 道 for 到 (I read "until not the same" instead of "path not the same") so thats part of the reason I found it so confusing...

But the 不相 = 不互相 remark by jiangping was really the key to understading this one.

[kagami]

Generally speaking,道 in Chinese means a lot, it stands for "ideology,faith,will,religion,thoughts..."

不同 means "be different from"

不相 means "no need to..."

为谋 means a lot too, it presents "to seek,to make the deal,agree on sth,to fullfill achivement..."

This idiom usually portrays situation "we are not in the same boat,so we don't have to waste our time on the deal we can't strike"