Zuò xuéwèn yào zhēngqǔ zuò yí ge tōngrén, ér bú shì zhǐ dǒng yì mén.
In scholarship one should aim to become a well-rounded thinker, not just a one-field specialist.
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Literary. The implicit contrast is with 专家 ('specialist') — a 通人 commands the whole landscape of learning, not one corner. Often appears in 通人达士 ('learned and accomplished gentleman').
memory
通 here means 'penetrating, fluent across' (as in 精通 'master,' 通晓 'know thoroughly'). 通人 = 'a person who is fluent across [many fields].'
