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独学而无友

獨學而無友
dúxuéérwúyǒu
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 to study alone without companions
  2. 2 (fig.) learning without peers leaves one narrow and ill-informed
  3. 3 (lit.) solo-study and no friends

Examples

独学而无友，容易陷入自己的盲点。
Dúxué ér wú yǒu, róngyì xiànrù zìjǐ de mángdiǎn.
'To study alone without peers' — one easily falls into one's own blind spots.
他在家自学三年，深感独学而无友的局限，终于加入了读书会。
Tā zài jiā zì xué sān nián, shēn gǎn dúxué ér wú yǒu de júxiàn, zhōngyú jiārùle dúshū huì.
After three years of self-study at home he felt keenly the limits of 'studying alone without peers,' and finally joined a reading group.

Tips

history
From 《礼记·学记》(Li Ji, Record of Learning, compiled late Warring States / early Han, ca. 2nd c. BCE) — one of the earliest systematic treatises on education in the world. Full passage: 独学而无友，则孤陋而寡闻 (If one studies alone without companions, one becomes narrow and ill-informed). The line justifies the institution of the 学 — the communal school — as essential to real learning.
usage
Always quoted with the consequence clause 则孤陋而寡闻 (then one is narrow and ill-informed — itself now a set idiom 孤陋寡闻). Modern use: argue for study groups, peer review, open source, classroom discussion.

Stroke Order

独 dú
学 xué
而 ér
无 wú
友 yǒu