人非生而知之者，孰能无惑 rén fēi shēng ér zhī zhī zhě ， shú néng wú huò

DEFINITIONS

  1. Knowledge is not innate to man, how can we overcome doubt?
  2. 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)

CHARACTERS

人 rén
HSK 1
man; people; mankind; someone else
非 fēi
HSK 2
not, negative, non-; oppose
生 shēng
HSK 1
life, living, lifetime; birth
而 ér
HSK 3
and; and then; and yet; but
知 zhī
HSK 2
know, perceive, comprehend
之 zhī
HSK 4
marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
者 zhě
HSK 3
that which; he who; those who
孰 shú who? which? what? which one?
能 néng
HSK 1
to be able; can, permitted to; ability
无 wú
HSK 4
negative, no, not; KangXi radical 71
惑 huò
HSK 6
confuse, mislead, baffle; doubt