I kept thinking how marvellous it would be if I could somehow tear my heart, which felt so heavy, out of my chest.
ANTON CHEKHOVI kept thinking how marvellous it would be if I could somehow tear my heart, which felt so heavy, out of my chest.
ANTON CHEKHOVThe government is not God. It does not have the right to take away that which it can’t return even if it wants to.
ANTON CHEKHOVYou confuse two things: solving a problem and stating a problem correctly. It is only the second that is obligatory for an artist.
ANTON CHEKHOVIf our life has a meaning, an aim, it has nothing to do with our personal happiness, but something wiser and greater.
ANTON CHEKHOVThe world is, of course, nothing but our conception of it.
ANTON CHEKHOVI have the feeling that I’ve seen everything, but failed to notice the elephants.
ANTON CHEKHOVThe more refined one is, the more unhappy.
ANTON CHEKHOVThe world perishes not from bandits and fires, but from hatred, hostility, and all these petty squabbles.
ANTON CHEKHOVIt’s not a matter of old or new forms; a person writes without thinking about any forms, he writes because it flows freely from his soul.
ANTON CHEKHOVIf you ever have need of my life, come and take it.
ANTON CHEKHOVThere should be more sincerity and heart in human relations, more silence and simplicity in our interactions. Be rude when you’re angry, laugh when something is funny, and answer when you’re asked.
ANTON CHEKHOVYou only have to start a job of work to realize how few decent, honest folk there are about.
ANTON CHEKHOVA good upbringing means not that you won’t spill sauce on the tablecloth, but that you won’t notice it when someone else does.
ANTON CHEKHOVIf in the first act you introduce a gun, by the third act you have to use it.
ANTON CHEKHOVMy own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.
ANTON CHEKHOVEveryone has the same God; only people differ.
ANTON CHEKHOV