少年易老學難成

Chinese

		early youth; juvenile; youngster	change; easy; simple	old; aged; venerable old; aged; venerable; outdated; experienced; (affectionate prefix)	learn; study; science learn; study; science; ‑ology	disaster; distress; to scold disaster; distress; to scold; difficult (to...); problem; difficulty; difficult; not good	finish; complete; accomplish finish; complete; accomplish; become; turn into; win; succeed; one tenth
trad. (少年易老學難成)		少年	易	老	學	難	成
simp. (少年易老学难成)		少年	易	老	学	难	成

From Zhu Xi's poem 《偶成》:

少年易老學難成，一寸光陰不可輕 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

少年易老学难成，一寸光阴不可轻 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

shàonián yì lǎo xué nán chéng, yīcùn guāngyīn bùkě qīng [Pinyin]

It's easy for a youth to become old but hard to accomplish much learning. Every second of the time should not be undervalued.

Mandarin
(Pinyin): shàonián yì lǎo xué nán chéng

(Zhuyin): ㄕㄠˋ ㄋㄧㄢˊ ㄧˋ ㄌㄠˇ ㄒㄩㄝˊ ㄋㄢˊ ㄔㄥˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): siu³ nin⁴ ji⁶ lou⁵ hok⁶ naan⁴ sing⁴

少年易老學難成

if you do not study when you are young, you will grow old quickly without accomplishing much learning