"May you live in interesting times", often referred to 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"). This is sometimes quoted as "May you come to the attention of powerful people." (Alternately, "important people".)
- "May you find what you are looking for." This is sometimes quoted as "May your wishes be granted."
Read more about May You Live In Interesting Times: Origins, Popularization and Usage
Famous quotes containing the words live, interesting and/or times:
“We reflected
If one by one we counted people out
For the least sin, it wouldn’t take us long
To get so we had no one left to live with,
For to be social is to be forgiving.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“What is most interesting and valuable in it, however, is not the materials for the history of Pontiac, or Braddock, or the Northwest, which it furnishes; not the annals of the country, but the natural facts, or perennials, which are ever without date. When out of history the truth shall be extracted, it will have shed its dates like withered leaves.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)