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)
Short stories are like love affairs; novels are like marriages.
I am afraid of those who look for a tendency between the lines, and who are determined to see me as a liberal or a conservative.
The good thing about being a doctor is that you can always find a job.
It is not enough to be a good writer, you must also be a good person.
One must never lie, even to a child.
The most interesting things in life are those that are not obvious.
The task of a writer is to write, not to solve social problems.
I am a doctor, and I love medicine. It is my duty to help people.
To live means to love.
The world is full of good people, if you know how to find them.
Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.
The only way to be happy is to love your work.
I believe in individual people, in individual intelligence, I believe in the future of our country.
The artist should not be a judge of his characters or their conversations, but only an impartial witness.
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 dull.
The artist must not be a judge of his characters and what they say, but only an impartial witness.
Love, friendship, respect, admiration, are the things we were born into the world to receive and to give.
If you want to be a writer, you must be a good observer.
People don't go to the theatre to see ideas, but to see life.
The more cultivated a person is, the more he suffers.
Contemporaries of Anton Chekhov
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Anton Chekhov (1860–1904).