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秀才不出門，全知天下事

简秀才不出门，全知天下事 · 繁秀才不出門，全知天下事

Mandarin · pinyin xiù cai bù chū mén , quán zhī tiān xià shì

a learned person need not leave his home to know what's going on in the world (idiom)

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秀: xiù · ear of grain; flowering, luxuriant; refined, elegant, graceful
才: cái · talent, ability; just, only
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
出: chū · go out, send out; stand; produce
門: mén · gate, door, entrance, opening; Kangxi radical 169
全: quán · maintain, keep whole or intact
知: zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
下: xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down
事: shì · affair, matter, business; to serve; accident, incident
门: mén · gate, door, entrance, opening

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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