this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2025
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Peace and prosperity are the greatest achievements of a ruler (media.piefed.social)
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[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That's not a quote from the ambassador, that's from the ambassador's son.

Research by philologist Garson O'Toole shows a probable origin in the mind of Austen Chamberlain's father Joseph Chamberlain dating around the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Specifically, O'Toole cites the following statement Joseph made during a speech in 1898:

I think that you will all agree that we are living in most interesting times. (Hear, hear.) I never remember myself a time in which our history was so full, in which day by day brought us new objects of interest, and, let me say also, new objects for anxiety. (Hear, hear.) [emphasis added][1]

Over time, the Chamberlain family may have come to believe that the elder Chamberlain had not used his own phrase, but had repeated a phrase from Chinese.