人非生而知之者，孰能无惑

Traditional form:

人非生而知之者，孰能無惑

Pinyin (reading):

rénfēishēng'érzhīzhīzhě,shúnéngwúhuò

Definitions:

• 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 ( Hán Yù))

Characters:

• 人 - man, person; people
• 非 - not, negative, non-; to oppose
• 生 - life, lifetime; birth; growth
• 而 - and, and then, and yet; but
• 知 - to know, to perceive, to comprehend
• 之 - marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; to go to
• 者 - that which; they who; those who
• 孰 - who? which? what? which one?
• 能 - can, may; capable, full of energy
• 无 - no, not; lacking, -less
• 惑 - to confuse, to mislead; to doubt

Traditional characters:

• 人 - man, person; people
• 非 - not, negative, non-; to oppose
• 生 - life, lifetime; birth; growth
• 而 - and, and then, and yet; but
• 知 - to know, to perceive, to comprehend
• 之 - marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; to go to
• 者 - that which; they who; those who
• 孰 - who? which? what? which one?
• 能 - can, may; capable, full of energy
• 無 - no, not; lacking, -less
• 惑 - to confuse, to mislead; to doubt