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Anton Chekhov Quotes - Page 10

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The wealthy are always surrounded by hangers-on; science and art are as well.

The wealthy are always surrounded by hangers-on; science and art are as well.

Art, Wealthy, Wells

"A Dreary Story". Short story by Anton Chekhov, 1889.

How unbearable at times are people who are happy, people for whom everything works out.

Happiness, Frustration, People

Pharisaism, obtuseness and tyranny reign not only in the homes of merchants and in jails; I see it in science, in literature, and among youth. I consider any emblem or label a prejudice.... My holy of holies is the human body, health, intellect, talent, inspiration, love and the most absolute of freedoms, the freedom from force and falsity in whatever forms they might appear.

Freedom, Inspiration, Home

Letter to Alexei Pleshcheev, October 4, 1888.

It is a bad thing if a writer tackles a subject he does not understand.

Poor

"Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends: With Biographical Sketch". Book by Anton Chekhov, 1920.

A fiancé is neither this nor that: he's left one shore, but not yet reached the other.

Umpires, Engagement, Shore

"The Little Trilogy: The Man in a Case, Gooseberries, about Love". Book by Anton Chekhov, 1889.

I've noticed that people who get married cease to be curious.

Marriage, People, Curiosity

Then I feel so happy and at the same time so sad, it's unimaginable.

So Sad, Feels, Unimaginable

Not everyone knows how to be silent or to leave in good time. It happens that even people of good breeding fail to notice that their presence provokes in the weary or preoccupied host a feeling akin to hatred, and that this feeling is tensely concealed and covered up with lies.

Lying, Covered Up, People

Watching a woman make Russian pancakes, you might think that she was calling on the spirits or extracting from the batter the philosopher's stone.

Thinking, Calling, Stones

"Russian Pancakes (Bliny)". Short Story by Anton Chekhov, 1886.

The desire to serve the common good must without fail be a requisite of the soul, a necessity for personal happiness; if it issuesnot from there, but from theoretical or other considerations, it is not at all the same thing.

Soul, Desire, Charity

"Note-Book of Anton Chekhov". Book by Anton Chekhov, 1921.

A woman is fascinated not by art but by the noise made by those in the field.

Art, Noise, Fields

To a chemist, nothing on earth is unclean. A writer must be as objective as a chemist; he must abandon the subjective line; he must know that dungheaps play a very respectable part in a landscape, and that evil passions are as inherent in life as good ones.

Passion, Writing, Play

I do not know why one should not hunt two hares even in the literal sense....

Determination, Hunting, Two

"Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends: With Biographical Sketch". Book by Anton Chekhov, 1920.

People are far more sincere and good-humored at speeding their parting guests than on meeting them.

People, House Guests, Sincere

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.

Heart, Thinking, Scary

"In the Cart". Short story by Anton Chekhov, 1897.

It always seems to the brothers and the father that their brother or son didn't marry the right person.

Sister, Brother, Father

Note-Book of Anton Chekhov, 1921.

Everything I have written up to now is trifling compared to that which I would like to write and would write with great pleasureEither I am a fool and a self-conceited person, or I am a being capable of becoming a good writer; I am displeased and bored with everything now being written, while everything in my head interests, moves, and excites me-whence I draw the conclusion that no one is doing what is needed, and I alone know the secret of how it should be done. In all likelihood everyone who writes thinks that. In fact, the devil himself will be brought to his knees by these questions.

Moving, Writing, Conceited

Whoever sincerely believes that elevated and distant goals are as little use to man as a cow, that "all of our problems" come fromsuch goals, is left to eat, drink, sleep, or, when he gets sick of that, to run up to a chest and smash his forehead on its corner.

Running, Believe, Sleep

Anton Chekhov's letter to A.S. Suvorin, December 3, 1892.

When a man fails to understand something he is conscious of a discord, and seeks for the cause of it not in himself, as he should, but outside himself - hence the war with what he does not understand.

War, Should, Discord

"Letters Of Anton Chekhov To His Family And Friends With Biographical Sketch". Book by Anton Chekhov, 1920.

Every coming year is as bad as the previous one, the only difference being that in most cases it is even worse.

Years, Differences, Cases

When a woman isn't beautiful, people always say, 'You have lovely eyes, you have lovely hair.'

Beautiful, Eye, Hair

Uncle Vanya act 3 (1897)

Oh, dreams! In one night, lying with one's eyes shut, one may sometimes live through more than ten years of happiness.

Happiness, Dream, Lying

Anton Chekhov (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Anton Chekhov (Illustrated)”, p.951, Delphi Classics

The wealthy man is not he who has money, but he who has the means to live in the luxurious state of early spring.

Spring, Mean, Men

Letter to L.A. Avilova, April 29, 1892.

In Russia there is no philosophy, but philosophize everything, even the small fry.

Philosophy, Russia

A writer should not so much write as embroider on paper; the work should be painstaking, laborious.

Writing, Paper, Should

Anton Chekhov (2008). “How to Write Like Chekhov: Advice and Inspiration, Straight from His Own Letters and Work”, p.19, Da Capo Press

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