Where Does the Phrase ‘May You Live In Interesting Times’ Actually Come From?

At first, it’s easy to think that the phrase may you live in interesting times is a form of wishing someone well. After all, interesting times are better than boring ones, right? 

But in fact, the most compelling periods to look back on throughout history don’t tend to be very pleasant ones. Stories of war, conquest, famine, corruption, and other awful events tend to dominate history books. Riveting as those events can be, in hindsight, the average person who lives through such difficult times generally experiences a lot of fear and hardship.

For this reason, may you live in interesting times is said to be more of a curse than any sort of warm tiding—not a mystical kind of hex, but still, a way of wishing someone ill. Below, discover more of the fascinating (albeit murky) origins of this commonly used phrase.

How RFK Popularized the Phrase

One of the most famous uses of the phrase was in Robert F. Kennedy’s Day of Affirmation address, which took place at the University of Cape Town in June 1966.

In what has since been dubbed his “Ripple of Hope” speech, Kennedy drew parallels between the struggles against Apartheid in South Africa and the U.S. Civil Rights movement, emphasizing that turbulent times are often in pursuit of grander ideals of equality. RFK attributed a particular saying to an old Chinese adage:

“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 the most creative of any time in the history of mankind.”

As the “Ripple of Hope” speech gained more attention worldwide, it helped popularize the phrase, particularly among intelligentsia types like Albert Camus and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who further propelled it into more widespread usage.

For motivational purposes, the quote certainly does the trick. But RFK’s speechwriter was wrong about one thing: There’s actually no such curse or proverb in Chinese. A Chinese phrase similar to RFK’s quote appears in the 1627 short-story collection Stories to Awaken the World. The tome’s anti-war message is palpable in the phrase (寧為太平犬, 不做亂世人, or níng wéi tàipíng quǎn, bù zuò luànshì rén in Simplified Chinese), which means “it’s better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period.”

Who Used the Phrase First?

While it’s true that the fundamental idea of may you live in interesting times could have been borrowed from an old Chinese proverb, this doesn’t fully explain how the phrase turned into a “curse,” especially with the concept of “interesting” times as opposed to simply chaotic ones. Likely, the classic version of this saying—at least, as Americans know it—is due to a mistranslation (or misunderstanding) tracing back to early 20th-century British diplomats.

The year 1936, in particular, saw the sudden emergence of the saying throughout the British diplomatic corps. In the memoir Diplomat in Peace and War, Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, a British ambassador to China, recalls a conversation about it: “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 [fulfillment].”

That very same year, Frederic R. Coudert, honorary vice president of the American Society of International Law, exchanged letters with diplomat Sir Austen Chamberlain, a longtime friend and the brother of Neville Chamberlain, who became British Prime Minister in 1937. Coudert finished one letter to Sir Austen with a casual remark about how they were “living in an interesting age.”

According to Coudert, Chamberlain wrote back in reply, “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.’” Chamberlain also reportedly claimed that “no age has been more fraught with insecurity than our own present time.”   

It’s since been theorized that the Chamberlain family may have not only spread the newfound phrase but also been responsible for its exact wording. Austen and Neville’s father, Joseph Chamberlain, was a politician in his own right and used the specific phrase we live in interesting times in a few speeches around 1898 to 1901, so his sons would have likely known it. 

Though it’s entirely possible that the phrase originated from a conversation between Sir Austen and another diplomat based in China (who possibly misunderstood the concept behind it’s better to be a dog in a peaceful time) it’s likely that racist attitudes toward China played a big role in why it came to be seen as a hex of sorts.

It’s not a Chinese curse at all. But crediting the phrase to “ancient Chinese wisdom” likely made it feel more mystical—and thus more memorable—to midcentury spectators who read or overheard it. This mysterious appeal would have made it seemingly perfect fodder for speeches—even if it was probably more of a British-made idiom than a Chinese one in the end.

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