事非经过不知难

shìfēijīngguòbùzhīnán

you never know how hard a task is until you have done it yourself

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事非经过不知难

shì fēi jīng guò bù zhī nán

not to know how difficult the job is, unless one has done it oneself; A man does not know the difficulty of anything unless he does it personally.; One cannot appreciate the difficulty except through personal experience.; One does not realize the difficulty of an undertaking until one has experienced it oneself.