人非生而知之者,孰能無惑 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 man; people; mankind; someone else
非 fēi not, negative, non-; oppose
生 shēng life, living, lifetime; birth
而 ér and; and then; and yet; but
知 zhī know, perceive, comprehend
之 zhī marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
者 zhě that which; he who; those who
孰 shú who? which? what? which one?
能 néng to be able; can, permitted to; ability
無 wú negative, no, not; lack, have no
惑 huò confuse, mislead, baffle; doubt