May you live in interesting times, often referred to euphemistically as the Chinese curse, is reputed to be the English translation of an ancient Chinese proverb and curse, although it may have originated among the English themselves. It is reported that it was the first of three curses of increasing severity, the other two being: May you come to the attention of those in authority (sometimes rendered May the government be aware of you) May you find what you are looking for

PropertyValue
dbpprop:abstract
  • May you live in interesting times, often referred to euphemistically as the Chinese curse, is reputed to be the English translation of an ancient Chinese proverb and curse, although it may have originated among the English themselves. It is reported that it was the first of three curses of increasing severity, the other two being: May you come to the attention of those in authority (sometimes rendered May the government be aware of you) May you find what you are looking for
dbpprop:hasPhotoCollection
dbpprop:quotation1Property
  • Before I left England for China in 1936 a friend told me that there exists a Chinese curse — "May you live in interesting times". If so, our generation has certainly witnessed that curse's fulfilment.
  • Diplomat in Peace and War, 1949
  • Frederic R. Coudert
  • Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, 1939
  • Some years ago, in 1936, I had to write to a very dear and honored friend of mine, who has since died, Sir Austen Chamberlain, brother of the present Prime Minister, and I concluded my letter with a rather banal remark, "that we were living in an interesting age." Evidently he read the whole letter, because by return mail he wrote to me and concluded as follows: "Many years ago, I learned from one of our diplomats in China that one of the principal Chinese curses heaped upon an enemy is, 'May you live in an interesting age.'" "Surely", he said, "no age has been more fraught with insecurity than our own present time." That was three years ago.
  • dbpedia:Hughe_Knatchbull-Hugessen
dbpprop:redirectshereProperty
  • Chinese curse
  • Chinese-language profanity
  • Mandarin Chinese profanity
dbpprop:wikiPageUsesTemplate
rdf:type
rdfs:comment
  • May you live in interesting times, often referred to euphemistically as the Chinese curse, is reputed to be the English translation of an ancient Chinese proverb and curse, although it may have originated among the English themselves. It is reported that it was the first of three curses of increasing severity, the other two being: May you come to the attention of those in authority (sometimes rendered May the government be aware of you) May you find what you are looking for
rdfs:label
  • May you live in interesting times
owl:sameAs
skos:subject
foaf:page
is dbpprop:redirect of
is owl:sameAs of