出师未捷身先死

chū shī wèi jié shēn xiān sǐ

"he failed to complete his quest before death" (line from the poem "The Premier of Shu" 蜀相[Shu3 xiang4] by Du Fu 杜甫[Du4 Fu3])

出

chū

variant of 出[chu1] (classifier for plays or chapters of classical novels)

师

shī

teacher

未

wèi

not yet

捷

jié

abbr. for 捷克[Jie2 ke4]

身

shēn

body

先

xiān

beforehand; first; earlier

死

sǐ

to die