燕雀焉知鴻鵠之志

1. • lit. can the sparrow and swallow know the will of the great swan? (idiom) fig. how can we small fry predict the ambitions of the great?

Character by character

• 燕(yàn)swallow
• 雀(què)small bird
• 焉(yān)where
• 知(zhī)know
• 鴻(hóng)eastern bean goose
• 鵠(gǔ)center or bull's eye of an archery target
• 之(zhī)(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的 de)
• 志(zhì)aspiration