We've all heard of the suppose Chinese proverb, a curse really: "may you live in interesting times." It sounds like it could be Chinese but it probably is not. This comes to mind today because Kevin Drum at The Washington Monthly cites it, and that sparked my interest. I did a quick internet search (to confirm my existing suspicion: I have never come across it in Chinese proverb dictionaries) and found this site and this site that pretty clearly demonstrate its American and British lineage. It seems that it was popularized by Robert F. Kennedy in a speech in South Africa in 1966. There are plenty of great Chinese proverbs; we don't need to make any up.
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September 12, 2005
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This 'old Chinese proverb' has for quite a while been said to originate from Ernest Bramah's novel 'The Wallet of Kai Lung', but I've not read it to check that assertion. Some people have said that they can't find it in that work.
Posted by: Steve | September 12, 2005 at 10:10 PM