215 quotes
Writers are as jealous as pigeons.
It seemed that if a band of brigands had been living in his rooms his life would not have been so hopelessly, so irremediably ruined as by the presence of this woman.
The Darling and Other Stories (1899)
Ariadne's voice, her walk, her hat, even her footprints on the sandy bank where she used to angle for gudgeon, filled me with delight and a passionate hunger for life.
The Darling and Other Stories (1899)
If I were asked to choose between execution and life in prison I would, of course, chose the latter. It’s better to live somehow than not at all.
The Bet (1889)
Children are holy and pure. Even those of bandits and crocodiles belong among the angels.... They must not be turned into a plaything of one’s mood, first to be tenderly kissed, then rabidly stomped at.
He is no longer a city dweller who has even once in his life caught a ruff or seen how, on clear and cool autumn days, flocks of migrating thrushes drift over a village. Until his death he will be drawn to freedom.
Gooseberries (1898)
It is uncomfortable to ask condemned people about their sentences just as it is awkward to ask wealthy people why they need so much money, why they use their wealth so poorly, and why they don’t just get rid of it when they recognize that it is the cause of their unhappiness.
Episode from a Practice or A Doctor's Visit (1898)
Our self-esteem and conceit are European, but our culture and actions are Asiatic.
Note-Book of Anton Chekhov (1921)
Great Jove angry is no longer Jove.
The Seagull (1896)
To Moscow, to Moscow, to Moscow!
The Three Sisters (1901)
All Russia is our orchard.
The Cherry Orchard (1904)
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.
Note-Book of Anton Chekhov (1921)
Tell me, pleez, my sawl, when will I live in human way, that is, to work and not to be in need? Now I work, and I'm in need, and I spoil my reputation by the need to write bullshit.
Ordinary hypocrites pretend to be doves; political and literary hypocrites pretend to be eagles. But don't be disconcerted by their aquiline appearance. They are not eagles, but rats or dogs.
Note-Book of Anton Chekhov (1921)
Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he's been given. But up to now he hasn't been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life's become extinct, the climate's ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day.
It is unfortunate that we try to solve the simplest questions cleverly, and therefore make them unusually complicated. We should seek a simple solution.
Note-Book of Anton Chekhov (1921)
Wherever there is degeneration and apathy, there also is sexual perversion, cold depravity, miscarriage, premature old age, grumbling youth, there is a decline in the arts, indifference to science, and injustice in all its forms.
You ask that I remove you from the list of my relatives; I willingly comply, especially since our relationship has always compromised me in the eyes of society. From now on, you will be known not as Chekhov, but as Ivan Mikhailovich Shevyrev.
I’m in mourning for my life.
The Seagull (1896)
Do you know when you may concede your insignificance? In front of God or, perhaps, in front of the intellect, beauty, or nature, but not in front of people. Among people, one must be conscious of one’s dignity.