这句话可能源于一个古老的中国谚语“宁为太平犬，莫作乱离人”。
在1936年英国政治家奥斯汀·张伯伦爵士在一次演讲中谈到德国违反《洛迦诺条约》对集体安全造成的“严重伤害”时说：
“It is not so long ago that a member of the Diplomatic Body in London, who had spent some years of his service in China, told me that there was a Chinese curse which took the form of saying, ‘ May you live in interesting times.’ There is no doubt that the curse has fallen on us.”
“We move from one crisis to another. We suffer one disturbance and shock after another.”
“就在不久前，一位曾在中国服役多年的伦敦外交机构的成员告诉我，中国有一种诅咒，它的形式是说‘愿你生活在有趣的时代。’毫无疑问，诅咒已经降临到我们身上。”
“我们从一个危机进入另一个危机。我们经历了一次又一次的骚乱和冲击。”
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在1936年英国政治家奥斯汀·张伯伦爵士在一次演讲中谈到德国违反《洛迦诺条约》对集体安全造成的“严重伤害”时说：
“It is not so long ago that a member of the Diplomatic Body in London, who had spent some years of his service in China, told me that there was a Chinese curse which took the form of saying, ‘ May you live in interesting times.’ There is no doubt that the curse has fallen on us.”
“We move from one crisis to another. We suffer one disturbance and shock after another.”
“就在不久前，一位曾在中国服役多年的伦敦外交机构的成员告诉我，中国有一种诅咒，它的形式是说‘愿你生活在有趣的时代。’毫无疑问，诅咒已经降临到我们身上。”
“我们从一个危机进入另一个危机。我们经历了一次又一次的骚乱和冲击。”