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)
The more refined a man is, the more he is vulnerable.
Happiness does not exist, and we only desire it.
Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress. When I get tired of one, I spend the night with the other.
The aim of fiction is to show the truth, not to preach it.
Man will become better when you show him what he is like.
The artist must not be a judge of his characters or of their conversations, but only an impartial witness.
It's not enough to be happy, you have to be useful.
If you want to be a pessimist, you must be a very good one.
What is the meaning of life? What is the purpose of it?
The only way to write well is to write about what you know.
People are like apples on a tree. The best ones are at the top of the tree. The others are on the ground.
To live and to love are two different things.
The task of the artist is not to solve a problem, but to state it correctly.
We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.
The world is a beautiful place, but it's full of terrible people.
There is no such thing as a happy life, only happy days.
A good writer is not one who writes well, but one who writes truly.
If you want to be happy, be.
The purpose of art is to prepare a person for death, to plough and harrow his soul, to make it capable of turning to good.
The artist must be objective and not impose his own views on the reader.
Contemporaries of Anton Chekhov
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Anton Chekhov (1860–1904).