May you live in interesting times

May you live in interesting times, also referred to as the Chinese curse, is a saying whose origin is not clearly documented, but often the Chinese language will be awarded. The first written record of this was written in 1936 by the former British Ambassador to China, Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull - Hugessen, in his memoirs. Width became famous for the phrase, as Robert F. Kennedy said in his Day of Affirmation speech:

" There is a Chinese curse Which says, 'May he live in interesting times. ' Like it or not, we live in interesting times ... "

"There is a Chinese curse which reads: '! May he live in interesting times ' Whether we like it or not - we live in interesting times ... "

Translation & Interpretation

The basic idea of the curse is consistent with the formulation of the philosopher Hegel:

" World history is not the ground of happiness. The periods of happiness are blank pages in it. "

For curses of the Chinese language directly come at least two are:

宁 为 太平 狗,不做 乱世 人., Ning wéi Taiping gǒu, bù shì Luan Zuo řén. , Better a dog in times of peace as a man in Revolutionary Road '

生不逢时., Sheng Feng bù shí. Be, to an unfavorable time of birth. '

The latter phrase comes from the divinatory text Jiaoshi Yilin from the Western Han Dynasty and is here in the context of negative omens.

Example:生不逢时,困 且 多 忧 无 有 冬夏,心 常 悲愁, Sheng Feng bù shí, Kun Qie Duo You.. . Wú yǒu Dong xià, xīn cháng at Chou. , If one is born at a bad time, so you have a lot of heartache and worry. If there is no winter or summer, so the heart is sad and full of care on a regular basis. '

In addition, there are various speculations on similar phrases:

• " May you get attention from For those who have authority "

Popular uses

• Kennedy's speech to the National Union of South African Students in Cape Town in 1966 subjects of the U.S. civil rights movement closes with a passage which contains the curse.
• Terry Pratchett's novel of the Discworld universe " real magic " bears the English title "Interesting times"
• The Blog of the American journalist George Packer in The New Yorker magazine titled "Interesting times"
• Star Trek: Voyager character Ensign Harry Kim used the phrase in Episode 6, Season 1 " The Cloud "
• In the TV series White Collar the curse is discussed in Episode 14 of the protagonists Caffrey and Mozzie.