Changes

[EndtheMadnessNow]

I feel we live in one of the most interesting of times. Even as we are circling the drain and feel the loss of equilibrium the insanity is quite entertaining.

Wasn't there an ancient Chinese curse that said "may you live in interesting times" or something like that?

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I wasn't sure either so a quick search led me to...

May You Live In Interesting Times

Question for Quote Investigator: The most fascinating periods in history were filled with tumult and upheaval. Tales of treachery, wars, and chaos provide compelling reading, but the participants who were living through the momentous changes were probably experiencing trepidation, hunger, and pain. Here are three versions of a saying that has commonly been described as a Chinese curse:

    May you live in interesting times.
    May you live in an interesting age.
    May you live in exciting times.

I asked a Chinese friend about this expression, and she said that she had never heard it before. Would you please explore its provenance?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Fred R. Shapiro who is the editor of “The Yale Book of Quotations” has noted that: “No authentic Chinese saying to this effect has ever been found”1. In addition, Ralph Keyes stated in “The Quote Verifier” that nobody has ever been able to confirm the Chinese origin claim.

The earliest strong match known to QI appeared in a March 1936 newspaper report in “The Yorkshire Post” of West Yorkshire, England. The expression was used in a speech by an influential British statesman. Boldface has been added to excerpts:

    Sir Austen Chamberlain, addressing the annual meeting of Birmingham Unionist Association last night, spoke of the “grave injury” to collective security by Germany’s violation of the Treaty of Locarno.

    Sir Austen, who referred to himself as “a very old Parliamentarian,” said:—

    “It is not so long ago that a member of the Diplomatic Body in London, who had spent some years of his service in China, told me that there was a Chinese curse which took the form of saying, ‘May you live in interesting times.’ There is no doubt that the curse has fallen on us.”

    “We move from one crisis to another. We suffer one disturbance and shock after another.”

A collection of short stories in vernacular Chinese was compiled and published in Suzhou, China in 1627. Two of the tales contained a maxim that expressed a somber preference for times of peace and stability versus war and turbulence. In the story “The Oil-Peddler Wins the Queen of Flowers” the main characters were driven from their home by warfare:

Thirsty, hungry, they bore all manner of hardships;
Where would they have a home to call their own again?
They prayed to heaven, earth, and their ancestors,
Not to let them run into the Jurchens.
Truly, better be a dog in days of peace
Than a human in times of war!

The tale “Bai Yuniang Endures Hardships and Brings about Her Husband’s Success” also included commentary on the devastation of war:

More at Quote Investigator


Ironically, quote from Robert Kennedy 1925–68:

There is a Chinese curse which says ‘May he live in interesting times.’ Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history.

speech, Cape Town, 6 June 1966; the Chinese saying has not been traced, and is likely to be apocryphal.