人之初，性本善 rén zhī chū ， xìng běn shàn

DEFINITIONS

  1. man at birth is fundamentally good in nature
  2. the first two lines of Three Character Classic 三字經|三字经[San1 zi4 Jing1]

CHARACTERS

人 rén
HSK 1
man; people; mankind; someone else
之 zhī
HSK 4
marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
初 chū
HSK 5
beginning, initial, primary
性 xìng
HSK 4
nature, character, sex
本 běn
HSK 1
root, origin, source; basis
善 shàn
HSK 5
good, virtuous, charitable, kind