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)
Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.
The most important thing in life is to be happy.
The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.
One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.
The only thing that matters in life is love.
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 of them loses anything from my infidelity.
The artist must be a judge, not a sweet talker.
Life is a vexatious thing, but it is not without its charms.
Everything should be beautiful in a person: the face, the clothes, the soul, the thoughts.
When a lot of different remedies are suggested for a disease, that means it can't be cured.
Knowledge is of no use unless it is put into practice.
The world is a beautiful place, and worth fighting for.
The more refined a man is, the more he is tormented by the vulgarity of others.
Love, friendship, respect, admiration, are the things that make life rich.
If you want to be a pessimist, you must be a very clever man.
It is not the task of the artist to solve a problem, but to state it correctly.
Without work, life is a burden; with work, it is a joy.
The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty.
The student of nature has to be a poet.
Happiness is not in money, but in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
Contemporaries of Anton Chekhov
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Anton Chekhov (1860–1904).