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Anton Chekhov
287 quotes
“She read a lot, wrote letters without the letter ъ, …”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dear, sweet, unforgettable childhood! Why does this irrevocable time, forever departed, seem brighter, more festive and richer than it actually was?”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1902 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Bishop (1902)
“Thought and beauty, like a hurricane or waves, should not know conventional, delimited forms.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1904 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ilia Gurliand Reminiscences of A. P. Chekhov, in Театр и искусство (Teatr i Iskusstvo, literally: Theater and art review) 1904, No 28, 11 July, p. 521. commonly known as Chekhov's dictum or Chekhov's gun.
“Between "there is a God" and "there is no God" lies a whole vast tract, which the really wise man crosses with great effort. A Russian knows one or other of these two extremes, and the middle tract between them does not interest him; and therefore he usually knows nothing, or very little. (Diary, 1897)”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dinner at the "Continental" to commemorate the great reform [the abolition of the serfdom in 1861]. Tedious and incongruous. To dine, drink champagne, make a racket, and deliver speeches about national consciousness, the conscience of the people, freedom, and such things, while slaves in tail-coats are running round your tables, veritable serfs, and your coachmen wait outside in the street, in the bitter cold—that is lying to the Holy Ghost. (Diary, 9 February 1897)”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mankind has conceived history as a series of battles; hitherto it has considered fighting as the main thing in life.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The desire to serve the common good must without fail be a requisite of the soul, a necessity for personal happiness; if it issues not from there, but from theoretical or other considerations, it is not at all the same thing.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Solomon made a great mistake when he asked for wisdom.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ordinary hypocrites pretend to be doves; political and literary hypocrites pretend to be eagles. But don't be disconcerted by their aquiline appearance. They are not eagles, but rats or dogs.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It always seems to the brothers and the father that their brother or son didn't marry the right person.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love is a great thing. It is not by chance that in all times and practically among all cultured peoples love in the general sense and the love of a man for his wife are both called love. If love is often cruel or destructive, the reason lies not in love itself, but in the inequality between people.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A nice man would feel ashamed even before a dog.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How pleasant it is to respect people! When I see books, I am not concerned with how the authors loved or played cards; I see only their marvelous works.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I observed that after marriage people cease to be curious.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The more refined the more unhappy.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People love talking of their diseases, although they are the most uninteresting things in their lives.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love, friendship, respect, do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Also quoted in Psychologically Speaking: A Book of Quotations, Kevin Connolly and Margaret Martlew, 1999, p. 96
“It is easier to ask of the poor than of the rich.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Death is terrible, but still more terrible is the feeling that you might live for ever and never die.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They say: "In the long run truth will triumph;" but it is untrue.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When an actor has money, he doesn't send letters but telegrams.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Better to perish from fools than to accept praises from them.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you are afraid of loneliness, do not marry.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Although you may tell lies, people will believe you, if only you speak with authority.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As I shall lie in the grave alone, so in fact I live alone.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our self-esteem and conceit are European, but our culture and actions are Asiatic.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man will only become better when you make him see what he is like.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How intolerable people are sometimes who are happy and successful in everything.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When one longs for a drink, it seems as though one could drink a whole ocean—that is faith; but when one begins to drink, one can only drink altogether two glasses—that is science.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you wish women to love you, be original; I know a man who used to wear felt boots summer and winter, and women fell in love with him.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We fret ourselves to reform life, in order that posterity may be happy, and posterity will say as usual: "In the past it used to be better, the present is worse than the past.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing lulls and inebriates like money; when you have a lot, the world seems a better place than it actually is.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is not a single criterion which can serve as the measure of the non-existent, of the non-human.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And I thought that were we now to obtain political liberty, of which we talk so much, while engaged in biting one another, we should not know what to do with it, we should waste it in accusing one another in the newspapers of being spies and money-grubbers, we should frighten society with the assurance that we have neither men, nor science, nor literature, nothing! Nothing!”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is unfortunate that we try to solve the simplest questions cleverly, and therefore make them unusually complicated. We should seek a simple solution.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no Monday which will not give its place to Tuesday.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My mother and father are the only people on the whole planet for whom I will never begrudge a thing. Should I achieve great things, it is the work of their hands; they are splendid people and their absolute love of their children places them above the highest praise. It cloaks all of their shortcomings, shortcomings that may have resulted from a difficult life.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1877 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his cousin, M.M. Chekhov (July 29, 1877)
“Do you know when you may concede your insignificance? In front of God or, perhaps, in front of the intellect, beauty, or nature, but not in front of people. Among people, one must be conscious of one’s dignity.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1879 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his brother, M.P. Chekhov (April 1879)
“A grimy fly can soil the entire wall and a small, dirty little act can ruin the entire proceedings.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1883 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.N. Kanaev (March 26, 1883)
“In order to cultivate yourself and to drop no lower than the level of the milieu in which you have landed, it is not enough to read Pickwick and memorize a monologue from Faust. You need to work continually day and night, to read ceaselessly, to study, to exercise your will… Each hour is precious.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1886 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his brother, N.P. Chekhov (March 1886)
“Isolation in creative work is an onerous thing. Better to have negative criticism than nothing at all.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1886 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his brother, A.P. Chekhov (May 10, 1886)
“Hoping for the critics' indulgence, the author asks to send money for his story immediately, otherwise his wife and kids will die of hunger.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When in a serious mood, it seems to me that those people are illogical who feel an aversion toward death. As far as I can see, life consists exclusively of horrors, unpleasantnesses and banalities, now merging, now alternating.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1886 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to M.V. Kiseleva (September 29, 1886)
“To describe drunkenness for the colorful vocabulary is rather cynical. There is nothing easier than to capitalize on drunkards.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1886 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to N.A. Leikin (December 24, 1886)
“I'm penniless to the marrow of my bones. If you have any humanity in your belly, then condescend to my humiliating request: immediately, so quick as a woodcock shot with a poisonous arrow into his anus, put on your hat and rush:”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Alexander P. Chekhov (January 8, 1887)
“There are people whom even children’s literature would corrupt. They read with particular enjoyment the piquant passages in the Psalter and in the Wisdom of Solomon.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to M.V. Kiseleva (January 14, 1887)
“Despite your best efforts, you could not invent a better police force for literature than criticism and the author’s own conscience.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to M.V. Kiseleva (January 14, 1887
“Oh, what women are here!”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to N. A. Leykin (April 7, 1887), from Taganrog