I believe it’s actually a Chinese proverb.
You need to be careful of supposed Chinese proverbs; I recently found that the Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times” was actually created in the fifties by Eric Frank Russell.
It has to be “may your grandchildren live in interesting times”, or the caster of the curse is as cursed as the recipient. sheesh!
Maybe the problem is that you’re focusing too much on whether the proverb is authentic Chinese rather than on whether it accurately captures reality?
I believe it’s actually a Chinese proverb.
You need to be careful of supposed Chinese proverbs; I recently found that the Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times” was actually created in the fifties by Eric Frank Russell.
It has to be “may your grandchildren live in interesting times”, or the caster of the curse is as cursed as the recipient. sheesh!
Maybe the problem is that you’re focusing too much on whether the proverb is authentic Chinese rather than on whether it accurately captures reality?