而知也无涯

而知也無涯

érzhīyěwúyá

phrase

Meanings

1 yet knowledge is without limit
2 (fig.) life is finite but learning is endless — caution against chasing all knowledge
3 (lit.) yet knowing is also no-shore

Characters

classical topic particle

shore / limit (无涯 = without bound)

Examples

吾生也有涯，而知也无涯，读书要有选择。

Wú shēng yě yǒu yá, ér zhī yě wú yá, dúshū yào yǒu xuǎnzé.

'Our life has a limit, but knowledge is without limit' — so we must read selectively.

他感慨道：信息爆炸的时代，更觉而知也无涯。

Tā gǎnkǎi dào: xìnxī bàozhà de shídài, gèng jué ér zhī yě wú yá.

He sighed: 'In an age of information overload, one feels all the more that knowledge is without limit.'

Tips

history

From 《庄子·养生主》(Zhuangzi, 'The Secret of Caring for Life,' ~4th c. BCE), its opening warning: 吾生也有涯，而知也无涯。以有涯随无涯，殆已 (Our life has a limit, but knowledge is without limit. To use the finite to pursue the infinite is dangerous indeed). Zhuangzi's counterintuitive thesis: chasing all learning exhausts life itself — a critique often misread today as a simple pro-study slogan.

usage

Always quoted with the preceding 吾生也有涯 — the two clauses together. Modern use often drops Zhuangzi's 殆已 (dangerous) and flips the meaning into 'study without end,' which is precisely opposite to the original. 无涯 = 'without shore.'

Stroke Order

而 ér

知 zhī

也 yě

无 wú

涯 yá