The Doctrine of the Mean Passage 5
子曰：「道其不行矣夫。」
The Master said, "Alas! How is the path of the Mean untrodden!"
English: James Legge (1861), The Doctrine of the Mean, The Chinese Classics vol. 1 (1861); romanization modernized on Wikisource — public domain. Chinese: Chinese text from the Wikisource bilingual edition.
Character glossary
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 行xíngto go, to walk, to move; professional
- 矣yǐparticle of completed action
- 夫fūman, husband; worker; those
Similar passages
- Mencius 5B.4
- Zhuangzi Autumn Floods
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 47
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 77
- Mencius 6B.6
- The Doctrine of the Mean Passage 28
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.