Anton Chekhov Quotes
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Better to perish from fools than to accept praises from them.
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To describe drunkenness for the colorful vocabulary is rather cynical. There is nothing easier than to capitalize on drunkards.
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Несчастные эгоистичны, злы, несправедливы, жестоки и менее, чем глупцы, способны понимать друг друга. Не соединяет, а разъединяет людей несчастье...
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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.
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When in a serious mood, it seems to me that those people are illogical who feel an aversion toward death. As far as I can see, life consists exclusively of horrors, unpleasantnesses and banalities, now merging, now alternating.
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All of life and human relations have become so incomprehensibly complex that, when you think about it, it becomes terrifying and your heart stands still.
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People should be beautiful in every way—in their faces, in the way they dress, in their thoughts and in their innermost selves.
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I try to catch every sentence, every word you and I say, and quickly lock all these sentences and words away in my literary storehouse because they might come in handy.
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I divide all literary works into two categories: Those I like and those I don’t like. No other criterion exists for me.
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It is depressing to hear the unfortunate or dying man jest.
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When a person hasn’t in him that which is higher and stronger than all external influences, it is enough for him to catch a good cold in order to lose his equilibrium and begin to see an owl in every bird, to hear a dog’s bark in every sound.
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The thirst for powerful sensations takes the upper hand both over fear and over compassion for the grief of others.
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Better a debauched canary than a pious wolf.
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The world perishes not from bandits and fires, but from hatred, hostility, and all these petty squabbles.
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Happiness does not await us all. One needn’t be a prophet to say that there will be more grief and pain than serenity and money. That is why we must hang on to one another.
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There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science.
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I don’t know why one can’t chase two rabbits at the same time, even in the literal sense of those words. If you have the hounds, go ahead and pursue.
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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.
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The wealthy are always surrounded by hangers-on; science and art are as well.
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Who but a stupid barbarian could burn so much beauty in his stove and destroy that which he cannot make?
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I don’t care for success. The ideas sitting in my head are annoyed by, and envious of, that which I’ve already written.
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An artist must pass judgment only on what he understands; his range is limited as that of any other specialist—that's what I keep repeating and insisting upon. Anyone who says that the artist's field is all answers and no questions has never done any writing or had any dealings with imagery. An artist observes, selects, guesses and synthesizes.
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How pleasant it is to respect people! When I see books, I am not concerned with how the authors loved or played cards; I see only their marvelous works.
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Exquisite nature, daydreams, and music say one thing, real life another.