rén fēi shēng ér zhī zhī zhě , shú néng wú huò

Traditional: 人非生而知之者，孰能無惑

人非生而知之者，孰能无惑 (rén fēi shēng ér zhī zhī zhě , shú néng wú huò) is a Chinese word meaning “Knowledge is not innate to man, how can we overcome doubt?; We are not born with knowledge, how does one achieve maturity? (i.e. without guidance from a teacher - Tang dynasty essayist Han Yu 韓愈|韩愈[Han2 Yu4])”.

Meanings

  1. 1Knowledge is not innate to man, how can we overcome doubt?
  2. 2We are not born with knowledge, how does one achieve maturity? (i.e. without guidance from a teacher - Tang dynasty essayist Han Yu 韓愈|韩愈[Han2 Yu4])

Characters in 人非生而知之者，孰能无惑

人rén · person; people非fēi · to not be; not生shēng · to grow; to give birth; to produce; to be born而ér · and知zhī · to know之zhī · (possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de5])者zhě · (after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ...孰shú · who能néng · can无mó · used in 南無|南无[na1 mo2]惑huò · to confuse

Related words

知道to know; to become aware of人person; people能can能surname Neng先生teacher可能might (happen)而and非常very; really发生to happen; to occur; to take place; to break out而且(not only ...) but also生活to live之(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de5])

Study Chinese with flashcards →