Anton Chekhov
Master of the short story and modern drama
Most quoted
"Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he has been given. But up to now he has not created, but only destroyed. Forests are disappearing, rivers are drying up, wildlife is becoming extinct, the climate is spoiled, and every day the earth is growing poorer and uglier."
— from Uncle Vanya, 1897
"If you want to be a pessimist and write a novel, you must be a pessimist and write a novel. If you want to be an optimist and write a novel, you must be an optimist and write a novel. But if you want to be a realist and write a novel, you must be a realist and write a novel."
— from Letters
"The people I am afraid of are the ones who look for tendentiousness between the lines and are determined to see me as either liberal or conservative. I am not a liberal, not a conservative... I should have liked to be a free artist and that's all."
— from Letter to A.S. Suvorin, 1888
All quotes by Anton Chekhov (291)
If you are afraid of loneliness, don't marry.
A good upbringing means not that you won't spill sauce on the tablecloth, but that you won't notice when someone else does.
The student who can't be a good teacher will never be a good doctor.
Without work, life is a bore.
The only way to be truly happy is to love your work.
Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
The more a man loves, the more he suffers.
The artist's task is not to solve the problem, but to state the problem correctly.
One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off. It's wrong to make promises you don't mean to keep.
The sea has no sense of humor.
It's not enough to be a good doctor, you have to be a good person too.
People are like trees. They have roots, and they have branches. And they grow in different directions, but they are all connected.
The only thing that matters is to be true to yourself.
The world is full of suffering, but it is also full of people who are trying to make it a better place.
The more a man knows, the more he realizes how little he knows.
The most important thing in life is to be kind.
The only way to be truly free is to be yourself.
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
The world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
The human heart is like a vast ocean, full of secrets and mysteries.
Contemporaries of Anton Chekhov
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Anton Chekhov (1860–1904).