Anton Chekhov, in full Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, (born January 29, 1860, Taganrog, Russia – died July 15, 1904, Badenweiler, Germany) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered a master of the modern short story.
Although he practiced most of his literary career as a physician, Chekhov was a prolific writer. He wrote classic plays such as The Seagull (Чайка, 1896), Uncle Vanya (Дядя Ваня, 1899), Three Sisters (Три сестры, 1901) and The Cherry Orchard (Вишнёвый сад, 1904), and stories such as The Steppe (Степь, 1888), Ward No. 6 (Палата № 6, 1892) and The Lady with the Dog (Дама с собачкой, 1899).
As one of the fathers of early modernism in the theatre, Chekhov’s plays are still performed around the world.
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Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.'Act I. Scene III.' Ivanov (1887) 2
People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.'Act II' Three Sisters (1901) 3
You must trust people, or life becomes impossible.'Act II' Uncle Vanya (1898) 4
The world perishes not because of murderers and thieves, but from hidden hatred, from hostility among good people, from all those petty squabbles.'Act II. Scena V.' The Wood Demon (1889) 5
If you are afraid of loneliness, don’t marry.Notebooks (1892-1904) 6
Love, friendship, respect do not unite people as much as common hatred for something.Notebooks (1892-1904) 7
The more refined one is, the more unhappy.Notebooks (1892-1904) 8
One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake.Letter to Aleksei Sergeyevich Suvorin (November 3, 1888) 9
People who lead a solitary existence always have something in their hearts which they are eager to talk about.About Love (1898) 10
The University brings out all abilities, including stupidity.Notebooks (1892-1904) 11
The happy man only feels at ease because the unhappy bear their burdens in silence, and without that silence happiness would be impossible.Gooseberries (1898) 12
If you want to be healthy and normal, go to the common herd.The Black Monk (1894) 13
Good breeding is shown, not by not upsetting the sauce, but by not noticing it when somebody else does.An Artist's Story or The House with the Mezzanine (1896)
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Life does not agree with philosophy: there is no happiness which is not idleness and only the useless is pleasurable.Notebooks (1892-1904) 15
When a lot of different remedies are suggested for a disease, that means it can’t be cured.'Act I' The Cherry Orchard (1904) 16
Faith is a faculty of the spirit. It is just the same as a talent, one must be born with it.On the Road (1886) 17
When an actor has money, he doesn’t send letters but telegrams.Notebooks (1892-1904) 18
Life must be studied not from the pluses alone, but from the minuses too.Letter to Aleksei Sergeyevich Suvorin (December 23, 1888) 19
A woman can only become a man’s friend after having first been his acquaintance and then his beloved — then she becomes his friend.'Act II' Uncle Vanya (1898) 20
Money, like vodka, does strange things to a man.Gooseberries (1898) 21
If you wish to have little spare time, do nothing.Notebooks (1892-1904) 22
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.Notebooks (1892-1904) 23
Although you may tell lies, people will believe you, if only you speak with authority.Notebooks (1892-1904) 24
At the door of every happy person there should be a man with a hammer whose knock would serve as a constant reminder of the existence of unfortunate people.Gooseberries (1898) 25
Children are holy and pure. Even those of bandits and crocodiles belong among the angels. Whatever pit we may be crawling into, we must surround them with an atmosphere befitting their rank. They must not be turned into a plaything of one’s mood, first to be tenderly kissed, then rabidly stomped at.Letter to Alexander Pavlovich Chekhov (January 2, 1889) 26
It is easier to ask of the poor than of the rich.Notebooks (1892-1904)
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Lice consume the grass, rust consumes the iron, and lying the soul.My Life (1896) 28
Hundreds of miles of desolate, monotonous, burnt-up steppe cannot induce such deep depression as one man when he sits and talks, and one does not know when he will go.An Artist's Story or The House with the Mezzanine (1896) 29
No one wants to love the ordinary people in us.Letter to Aleksei Sergeyevich Suvorin (November 24 or 25, 1888) 30
Better to perish from fools than to accept praises from them.Notebooks (1892-1904) 31
There is no Monday which will not give its place to Tuesday.Notebooks (1892-1904) 32
There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science.Notebooks (1892-1904) 33
It is difficult to understand the human soul, but it is still more difficult to understand one’s own soul.'Chapter XV' The Shooting Party (1884) 34
There are a great many opinions in the world, and a good half of them are held by people who have never been in trouble!A Misfortune (1886) 35
Man will only become better when you make him see what he is like.Notebooks (1892-1904) No Source
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Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.No source 2
Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.No source (More info) 3
Any idiot can face a crisis; it’s this day-to-day living that wears you out.No source (More info) Misattributed
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To fear love is to fear life, and those whose fear life are already three parts dead…Bertrand Russell
