Analects 2.22
The Analects (論語), BOOK II. WEI CHANG 爲政第二
子曰、人而無信、不知其可也、大車無輗、小車無軏、其何以行之哉。
The Master said, "I do not know how a man without truthfulness is to get on. How can a large carriage be made to go without the cross-bar for yoking the oxen to, or a small carriage without the arrangement for yoking the horses?"
James Legge (1861), Confucian Analects, The Chinese Classics vol. 1 (1861; 2nd ed. 1893) — public domain.
Character glossary
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 人rénman, person; people
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 信xìnto trust, to believe; letter, sign
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 知zhīto know, to perceive, to comprehend
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 也yěalso, too
- 大dàbig, great, vast, high, deep
- 車chēcart, vehicle; to move in a cart
- 輗níthe cross-bar at the end of a carriage p
- 小xiǎosmall, tiny, insignificant
- 軏yuècross-bar at the end of the poles of a c
- 何héwhat, why, where, which, how
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 行xíngto go, to walk, to move; professional
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 哉zāifinal exclamatory particle
Passages with shared wording
- Analects 12.7
- Zhuangzi On Declining Power
- Art of War 2.13–14
- Zhuangzi The Universe
- Zhuangzi Transcendental Bliss
- Analects 19.24
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.