人生識字憂患始

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Chinese

[edit]
life
to know characters; to learn to read; to know how to read
to know characters; to learn to read; to know how to read; to be literate
 
suffering; hardship; misery begin
trad. (人生識字憂患始) 人生 識字 憂患
simp. (人生识字忧患始) 人生 识字 忧患

Etymology

[edit]

From 石蒼舒醉墨堂 by Su Shi (蘇軾):

人生識字憂患姓名可以草書神速開卷戃怳令人 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
人生识字忧患姓名可以草书神速开卷𰑿怳令人 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
Rénshēng shízì yōuhuàn shǐ, xìngmíng cū jì kěyǐ xiū. Hé yòng cǎoshū kuā shénsù, kāijuǎn chǎnghuǎng lìngrén chóu. [Pinyin]
Misery of life starts at literacy. Knowing roughly the name is more than necessary. Why bother using cursive calligraphy to flaunt swiftness? I opened a book, whose incomprehensibility brings me sadness.

Note that Su Shi is actually a famous scholar-official as well as a calligrapher. This poem was written for Shi Cangshu (石蒼舒) who shared the same interest in calligraphy with Su Shi and exceedingly appreciated Su Shi's calligraphy.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Idiom

[edit]

人生識字憂患始

  1. misery of life starts at literacy; ignorance is bliss

Descendants

[edit]
  • Japanese: 人生字を識るは憂患の始め (jinsei ji o shiru wa yūkan no hajime) (calque)
  • Japanese: 識字憂患 (shikiji yūkan)
  • Korean: 식자우환 (sikjauhwan)

See also

[edit]