一孔录子曰：人而无信，不知其可也。大车无輗，小车无軏，其何以行之哉？The Master said: A person without trustworthiness — I do not know how he can manage. A large cart without its yoke-bar, a small cart without its collar-bar — how can they go?
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
注Key words in the commentary
“輗，辕端横木，缚轭以驾牛者” — ni is the crossbar at the end of the shafts, tied to the yoke for oxen; “軏，辕端上曲，钩衡以驾马者” — yue is the curved piece at the shaft end hooking the bar for horses; “车无此二者，则不可以行” — without these a cart cannot move.
读How Yikonglu reads it
Without it, the ox is an ox and the cart is a cart; they never connect.
家Other commentaries
Our base text is Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries (above). Here are other commentaries side by side: for old commentaries, the first line of the sub-commentary with a link to the woodblock scan; for modern editions, one short quoted translation for comparison. The “compared with Zhu Xi” notes are written by Yikonglu, not quoted.
皇侃《论语义疏》Liang dynasty · Zhibuzu Zhai edition · juan 一
“此章明人不可失信也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | differs | 杨以輗軏为横木的活销；朱以輗为辕端横木、軏为辕端上曲。诚信为行事条件的譬喻相同。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | differs | 钱以輗軏为连接辕与衡的榫销，强调灵活接合；朱直接以横木、辕端上曲释之。 |
核Check every citation
Every commentary line quoted in the video: the original wording, who said it, and the page in the base edition. “Paraphrase” marks our summary, not the commentator's words. About this edition
| Quoted text | Source | Page |
|---|---|---|
| “輗，五兮反；軏，音月” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 33 |
| “大车，谓平地任载之车。輗，辕端横木，缚轭以驾牛者。小车，谓田车、兵车、乘车。軏，辕端上曲，钩衡以驾马者” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 33 |
| “车无此二者，则不可以行，人而无信，亦犹是也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 33 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 輗 | 大车无輗 | ní |
| 軏 | 小车无軏 | yuè |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects Wei zheng (Book 2) 2.22 “A person without trustworthiness”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/wei-zheng/22.html, version 2026-11-04.Last checked: 2026-11-04. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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