Anton Chekhov Quotes

279 Sourced Quotes

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
A fiancé is neither this nor that: he's left one shore, but not yet reached the other.

Anton Chekhov
When we retreat to the country, we are hiding not from people, but from our pride, which, in the city and among people, operates unfairly and immoderately.

Anton Chekhov
You don't understand, you fool' says Yegor, looking dreamily up at the sky. 'You've never understood what kind of person I am, nor will you in a million years... You just think I'm a mad person who has thrown his life away... Once the free spirit has taken hold of a man, there's no way of getting it out of him.

Anton Chekhov
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
It's easier to write about Socrates than about a young woman or a cook.

Anton Chekhov
How intolerable people are sometimes who are happy and successful in everything.

Anton Chekhov
To harbor spiteful feelings against ordinary people for not being heroes is possible only for narrow-minded or embittered man.

Anton Chekhov
You ask What is life? That is the same as asking What is a carrot? A carrot is a carrot and we know nothing more.

Anton Chekhov
The wealthy are always surrounded by hangers-on; science and art are as well.

Anton Chekhov
You are right in demanding that an artist approach his work consciously, but you are confusing two concepts: the solution of a problem and the correct formulation of a problem. Only the second is required of the artist.

Anton Chekhov
Man will only become better when you make him see what he is like.

Anton Chekhov
Do you know when you may concede your insignificance? Before God or, perhaps, before the intellect, beauty, or nature, but not before people. Among people, one must be conscious of one's dignity.

Anton Chekhov
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
In general, Russia suffers from a frightening poverty in the sphere of facts and a frightening wealth of all types of arguments.

Anton Chekhov
People who don't even notice whether it's summer or winter are lucky! If I lived in Moscow I don't think I'd care what the weather was like.

Anton Chekhov
Although you may tell lies, people will believe you, if only you speak with authority.

Anton Chekhov
In countries where there is a mild climate, less effort is expended on the struggle with nature and man is kinder and more gentle.

Anton Chekhov
The time has come for writers, especially those who are artists, to admit that in this world one cannot make anything out, just as Socrates once admitted it, just as Voltaire admitted it.

Anton Chekhov
Narrative prose is a legal wife, while drama is a posturing, boisterous, cheeky and wearisome mistress.

Anton Chekhov
Who keeps the tavern and serves up the drinks? The peasant. Who squanders and drinks up money belonging to the peasant commune, the school, the church? The peasant. Who would steal from his neighbor, commit arson, and falsely denounce another for a bottle of vodka? The peasant.

Anton Chekhov
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
When an actor has money, he doesn't send letters but telegrams.

Anton Chekhov
Life does not agree with philosophy: There is no happiness that is not idleness, and only what is useless is pleasurable.

Anton Chekhov
Faith is an aptitude of the spirit. It is, in fact, a talent: you must be born with it.

Anton Chekhov
Life isn't finished for us yet! We're going to live!…Maybe, if we wait a little longer, we shall find out why we live, why we suffer.

Anton Chekhov
I couldn't stand a happiness that went on morning noon and night…I promise to be a splendid husband, but give me a wife who, like the moon, does not rise every night in my sky.
On being urged to marry

Anton Chekhov
They say: "In the long run truth will triumph;" but it is untrue.

Anton Chekhov
That can not possibly be, because it could never possibly be.

Anton Chekhov
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