千金難買少年窮

千金难买少年穷
qiānjīnnánmǎishàoniánqióng

Living with hardship and poverty in one's early youth is a precious experience

Wiktionary

Entry Composition

1 千金難買 qiānjīnnánmǎi can't be bought for one thousand in gold (idiom)
2 少年 shàonián
  1. early youth
  2. youngster
  3. (literary) youth; young man
3 窮 qióng
  1. poor
  2. destitute
  3. to use up
  4. to exhaust
  5. thoroughly
  6. extremely
  7. (coll.) persistently and pointlessly