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天将降大任于斯人也

天將降大任於斯人也
Tiān jiāng jiàng dà rèn yú sī rén yě
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 when Heaven is about to place a great charge on such a person
  2. 2 when Heaven intends to entrust a great mission to someone (it first tests him)

Examples

天将降大任于斯人也，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨。
Tiān jiāng jiàng dàrèn yú sī rén yě, bìxiānkǔqíxīnzhì, láo qí jīngǔ.
When Heaven is about to give a great task to such a person, it first makes his mind suffer and his bones toil.
遇到挫折要想‘天将降大任于斯人也’。
Yùdào cuòzhé yào xiǎng ' tiān jiāng jiàng dàrèn yú sī rén yě '.
When facing setbacks, think ‘Heaven is about to entrust a great task to this person.’

Tips

history
From Mencius 《孟子·告子下》: ‘天将降大任于是人也，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤…’ The mainland textbook tradition renders the third character as 斯; many classical editions have 是. Both readings mean ‘this / such.’ A famous debate broke out online in 2022 when people noticed the textbook wording differed from some printed classics — scholars confirmed 斯 is a well-attested variant.
usage
斯 (sī) here = this / such (classical demonstrative). 于 = to, upon. 也 is a sentence-final classical particle, not ‘also.’ Always followed by the 必先苦其心志… series.

Stroke Order

天 tiān
将 jiāng
降 jiàng
大 dà
任 rèn
于 yú
斯 sī
人 rén
也 yě