May you live in interesting times

Even if its not actually an ancient (or modern) Chinese curse1, the saying is well understood. Author Arthur C. Clarke wrote in 1965:

As the old Chinese curse has it: May you live in interesting times, and the twentieth century is probably the most interesting period mankind has ever known.

The following year, Robert F. Kennedy referred to the same saying in a speech, adding:

Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most...