皮之不存，毛将焉附是一个汉语成语。意思是皮都没有了，毛往哪里依附呢？比喻事物失去了借以生存的基础，就不能存在。
The Chinese idiom ‘Without skin, how can hair be attached?’. It means there’s no skin left, where will the fur attach itself? Metaphorically speaking, if something loses its foundation for survival, it cannot exist.
古代寓言《皮之不存，毛将焉附》
魏文候出游，见路人反裘而负刍。
文候曰：“胡为反裘而负刍？”
对曰：“臣爱其毛。”
文候曰：“若不知其里尽而毛无所恃也？”
——《新序》
The Fur and the Hide
While on a tour of the country, Marquis Wen of the state of Wei saw a man wearing a
fur with the hide outside, carrying a bundle of straw.
“Why wear your fur inside out to carry straw?” asked the marquis.
“To protect the fur,” was the answer.
“Don’t you realize, man,” said the marquis, “that when the hide wears out, the fur will go too?”
–New Discourses (Xin Xu)
（杨宪益、戴乃迭 译）
