曾经沧海难为水，除却巫山不是云 in English ceng2 jing1 cang1 hai3 nan2 wei2 shui3 , chu2 que4 Wu1 Shan1 bu4 shi4 yun2 Meaning

Meanings

• there are no rivers to one who has crossed the ocean, and no clouds to one who has passed Mount Wu (idiomatic expression)
• one who has seen the world doesn't stop at small things

Pinyin

ceng2 jing1 cang1 hai3 nan2 wei2 shui3 , chu2 que4 Wu1 Shan1 bu4 shi4 yun2

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

曾ceng2surname Zeng 经jing1surname Jing 沧cang1blue-green or azure (of water) 海hai3surname Hai 难nan2difficult (to...) 为wei4as (in the capacity of) 水shui3surname Shui ， 除chu2to get rid of 却que4old variant of 卻|却[que4] 巫wu1surname Wu 山shan1surname Shan 不bu4(negative prefix) 是shi4is 云yun2(classical) to say