殊途同归
- Literal
- different roads, the same return
- Figurative
- To reach the same result or conclusion by different roads, methods or viewpoints; all roads lead to Rome.
Where does 殊途同归 come from?
It does not come from an anecdote but from a line in the “系辞”, the commentary on the 《周易》, attributed to Confucius: 天下同归而殊涂，一致而百虑 (涂 here stands for 途, "road") — the whole world arrives at the same place by different roads, and agrees on one end with a hundred ways of thinking about it. The passage asks what need there is for so much brooding, and its point is that a variety of paths does not stop people from meeting at the goal. Over time the order was reversed, giving 殊途同归. Today it is said of different methods, careers or lines of reasoning that end in the same result.
Source (出处): 《周易·系辞下》
How is 殊途同归 used? Two examples
- 他们俩一个自学，一个上培训班，殊途同归，都考上了研究生。
One taught himself and the other took a prep course; by different routes, both got into grad school.
- 两个团队方法完全不同，最后却殊途同归，得出了同样的结论。
The two teams used completely different methods, yet in the end they reached the same conclusion.
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