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May you live in interesting times!

"May you live in interesting times!" is an ancient Chinese curse, right? Well, seemingly, wrong. This is the earliest example, and therefore the defining moment, of this myth:

For centuries the Chinese used an ancient curse: "May you live in interesting times!" It isn't a curse any more. It's a blessing. We're scientific and civilized. We've got so many rights and liberties and freedoms that one can yearn for chains for the sheer pleasure of busting them and shaking them off. Reckon life would be more livable if there were any chains left to bust.

Eric Frank Russell, writing as Duncan H. Munro
U-Turn - Astounding Science Fiction, April 1950