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Anton Chekhov
287 quotes
“Tell me, pleez, my sawl, when will I live in human way, that is, to work and not to be in need? Now I work, and I'm in need, and I spoil my reputation by the need to write bullshit.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to the Alexander Chekhov (April 14, 1887)
“I was so drunk the whole time that I took bottles for girls and girls for bottles.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to the Chekhov family (April 25, 1887)
“You ask that I remove you from the list of my relatives; I willingly comply, especially since our relationship has always compromised me in the eyes of society. From now on, you will be known not as Chekhov, but as Ivan Mikhailovich Shevyrev.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to the Alexander Chekhov (June 21, 1887)
“Writers are as jealous as pigeons.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to I.L. Leontev (February 4, 1888)
“In Western Europe people perish from the congestion and stifling closeness, but with us it is from the spaciousness.... The expanses are so great that the little man hasn’t the resources to orient himself.... This is what I think about Russian suicides.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to D.V. Grigorovich (February 5, 1888)
“Happiness does not await us all. One needn’t be a prophet to say that there will be more grief and pain than serenity and money. That is why we must hang on to one another.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to K.S. Barantsevich (March 3, 1888)
“Tsars and slaves, the intelligent and the obtuse, publicans and pharisees all have an identical legal and moral right to honor the memory of the deceased as they see fit, without regard for anyone else’s opinion and without the fear of hindering one another.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to K.S. Barantsevich (March 30, 1888)
“Hypocrisy is a revolting, psychopathic state.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to I.L. Leontev (August 29, 1888)
“One must speak about serious things seriously.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.N. Pleshcheev (September 9, 1888)
“I feel more confident and more satisfied when I reflect that I have two professions and not one. Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress. When I get tired of one I spend the night with the other. Though it's disorderly it's not so dull, and besides, neither really loses anything, through my infidelity.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (September 11, 1888)
“I don’t know why one can’t chase two rabbits at the same time, even in the literal sense of those words. If you have the hounds, go ahead and pursue.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (September 11, 1888)
“The more simply we look at ticklish questions, the more placid will be our lives and relationships.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his brother, A.P. Chekhov (September 24, 1888)
“I would like to be a free artist and nothing else, and I regret God has not given me the strength to be one.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Alexei Pleshcheev (October 4, 1888)
“My holy of holies is the human body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love, and the most absolute freedom imaginable, freedom from violence and lies, no matter what form the latter two take. Such is the program I would adhere to if I were a major artist.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Alexei Pleshcheev (October 4, 1888)
“Pharisaism, obtuseness and tyranny reign not only in the homes of merchants and in jails; I see it in science, in literature, and among youth. I consider any emblem or label a prejudice.... My holy of holies is the human body, health, intellect, talent, inspiration, love and the most absolute of freedoms, the freedom from force and falsity in whatever forms they might appear.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Alexei Pleshcheev (October 4, 1888)
“Lying is the same as alcoholism. Liars prevaricate even on their deathbeds.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.N. Pleshcheev (October 9, 1888)
“There should be more sincerity and heart in human relations, more silence and simplicity in our interactions. Be rude when you’re angry, laugh when something is funny, and answer when you’re asked.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his brother, A.P. Chekhov (October 13, 1888)
“A tree is beautiful, but what’s more, it has a right to life; like water, the sun and the stars, it is essential. Life on earth is inconceivable without trees. Forests create climate, climate influences peoples’ character, and so on and so forth. There can be neither civilization nor happiness if forests crash down under the axe, if the climate is harsh and severe, if people are also harsh and severe.... What a terrible future!”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (October 18, 1888)
“He who doesn’t know how to be a servant should never be allowed to be a master; the interests of public life are alien to anyone who is unable to enjoy others’ successes, and such a person should never be entrusted with public affairs.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.N. Pleshcheev (October 25, 1888)
“An artist must pass judgment only on what he understands; his range is limited as that of any other specialist—that's what I keep repeating and insisting upon. Anyone who says that the artist's field is all answers and no questions has never done any writing or had any dealings with imagery. An artist observes, selects, guesses and synthesizes.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (October 27, 1888)
“It is a poor thing for the writer to take on that which he doesn’t understand.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (October 27, 1888)
“You are right to demand that an artist engage his work consciously, but you confuse two different things: solving the problem and correctly posing the question.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (October 27, 1888)
“I have in my head a whole army of people pleading to be let out and awaiting my commands.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (October 27, 1888)
“I don’t care for success. The ideas sitting in my head are annoyed by, and envious of, that which I’ve already written.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (October 27, 1888)
“We learn about life not from pluses alone, but from minuses as well.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (December 23, 1888)
“It doesn’t matter that your painting is small. Kopecks are also small, but when a lot are put together they make a ruble. Each painting displayed in a gallery and each good book that makes it into a library, no matter how small they may be, serve a great cause: accretion of the national wealth.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to S.P. Kuvshinnikova (December 25, 1888)
“Children are holy and pure. Even those of bandits and crocodiles belong among the angels.... They must not be turned into a plaything of one’s mood, first to be tenderly kissed, then rabidly stomped at.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his brother, A.P. Chekhov (January 2, 1889)
“Of course politics is an interesting and engrossing thing. It offers no immutable laws, nearly always prevaricates, but as far as blather and sharpening the mind go, it provides inexhaustible material.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (January 4, 1889)
“In one-act pieces there should be only rubbish—that is their strength.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (January 6, 1889)
“Narrative prose is a legal wife, while drama is a posturing, boisterous, cheeky and wearisome mistress.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.N. Pleshcheev (January 15, 1889)
“Everything is good in due measure and strong sensations know not measure.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to N.M. Lintvareva (February 11, 1889)
“Lermontov died at age twenty-eight and wrote more than have you and I put together. Talent is recognizable not only by quality, but also by the quantity it yields.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to P.A. Sergeenko (March 6, 1889)
“Neither I nor anyone else knows what a standard is. We all recognize a dishonorable act, but have no idea what honor is.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.N. Pleshcheev (April 9, 1889)
“Brevity is the sister of talent.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Alexander P. Chekhov (April 11, 1889)
“Everyone judges plays as if they were very easy to write. They don’t know that it is hard to write a good play, and twice as hard and tortuous to write a bad one.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (May 4, 1889)
“When performing an autopsy, even the most inveterate spiritualist would have to question where the soul is.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (May 7, 1889)
“Beware of exquisite language. The language should be simple and elegant.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Alexander P. Chekhov (May 8, 1889)
“Life is difficult for those who have the daring to first set out on an unknown road. The avant-garde always has a bad time of it.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (May 14, 1889)
“When a person doesn’t understand something, he feels internal discord: however he doesn’t search for that discord in himself, as he should, but searches outside of himself. Thence a war develops with that which he doesn’t understand.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (May 15, 1889)
“Without a knowledge of languages you feel as if you don’t have a passport.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (November 1889)
“Wherever there is degeneration and apathy, there also is sexual perversion, cold depravity, miscarriage, premature old age, grumbling youth, there is a decline in the arts, indifference to science, and injustice in all its forms.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1889 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (December 27, 1889)
“I drank so much in Peter that Russia should be proud of me!”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (February 20, 1890)
“In general, Russia suffers from a frightening poverty in the sphere of facts and a frightening wealth of all types of arguments.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (February 23, 1890)
“There are no lower or higher or median moralities. There is only one morality, and it is precisely the one that was given to us during the time of Jesus Christ and that stops me, you and Barantsevich from stealing, offending others, lying etc.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to I.L. Leontev (March 22, 1890)
“I divide all literary works into two categories: Those I like and those I don’t like. No other criterion exists for me.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to I.L. Leontev (March 22, 1890)
“One can only call that youth healthful which refuses to be reconciled to old ways and which, foolishly or shrewdly, combats the old. This is nature’s charge and all progress hinges upon it.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (March 29, 1890)
“The world is a fine place. The only thing wrong with it is us. How little justice and humility there is in us, how poorly we understand patriotism!”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (December 9, 1890)
“I think that it would be less difficult to live eternally than to be deprived of sleep throughout life.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (December 9, 1890)
“In my opinion it is harmful to place important things in the hands of philanthropy, which in Russia is marked by a chance character. Nor should important matters depend on leftovers, which are never there. I would prefer that the government treasury take care of it.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (December 17, 1890)
“One had better not rush, otherwise dung comes out rather than creative work.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1891 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (August 18, 1891)