







道不同,不相为谋 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “those whose principles or aspirations differ cannot work together or make plans mutually”. Literally, “If paths differ, one cannot plan together”.
During the Spring and Autumn period, after Confucius and his disciples encountered difficulties traveling among various states, they finally returned to his home state of Lu with the help of Ran Qiu. However, Ji Kangzi, who was in charge, considered him too old and did not appoint him to an important position.
Confucius believed that he and Ji Kangzi had different principles, hence "道不同,不相为谋" (those whose ways differ cannot work together). He then lived in seclusion, dedicating himself to writing and compiling works such as 'The Book of Odes', 'The Book of History', 'The Rites', 'The Book of Music', and 'The Spring and Autumn Annals'.

Turn a Chinese character or sentence into a GIF or MP4
Open the tool →
Create PNGs with pinyin, highlight character parts or remove strokes
Open the tool →
Chinese and English fill-in vocabulary worksheets
Open the tool →
Choose character parts and animate their colors, together or in stroke order
Open the tool →道不同,不相为谋 (dào bù tóng , bù xiāng wéi móu) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “those whose principles or aspirations differ cannot work together or make plans mutually”.
道不同,不相为谋 is pronounced dào bù tóng , bù xiāng wéi móu in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 道不同,不相为谋 means “If paths differ, one cannot plan together”. It is used to mean “those whose principles or aspirations differ cannot work together or make plans mutually”.
道不同,不相为谋 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
比喻志趣不同的人不会在一起共事。