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Freedom Canadian
09-22-2007, 01:28 PM
May you live in interesting times

May you come to the attention of those in authority

May you find what you are looking for

A lot of people know of the first line and some of those even know it's supposed to be a curse. But few people know the whole thing, with the three curses of increasing severity.

It's been used a lot in western speeches and so on and attributed to a chinese proverb, but as far as I can tell, nobody ever found its actual origin. It's certainly consistent with the Chinese attitude on conformism and stability.

In any case, I love the philosophical implications of that proverb, genuine or not. Very insightful, IMO.

Northcott
09-22-2007, 06:21 PM
I've come to hate those fucking words. Or more accurately, dread them.

Ancalagon
09-23-2007, 05:03 PM
I only had heard the first line, but the other two are exactly the same mentality...

although the last line is commonly heard as "be careful what you wish for, you might just get it"