Author

Anton Chekhov

Russian · 1860-1904 · 27 quotes

27

Quotes

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Anton Chekhov

Russian · 1860–1904

27 quotes in our collection

Anton Chekhov was the Russian playwright and short-story writer who transformed both forms so completely that no serious practitioner in either has been able to ignore him since. Born in Taganrog in 1860, the grandson of a serf, he trained as a doctor and wrote to pay his way through medical school, producing hundreds of stories before he was thirty. His four late plays — The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard — replaced dramatic action with mood, subtext, and the weight of time passing; they showed what theatre could do if it stopped insisting on resolution. He died of tuberculosis in 1904 at forty-four. His aphorisms have the diagnostic precision of the doctor he always remained: any idiot can face a crisis — it is day-to-day living that wears you out.

Common Themes

happiness3 indifference3 art3 perfection3 ability3

talent

3

mind2

success2

Collected Quotes

All quotes by Anton Chekhov

To judge between good or bad, between successful and unsuccessful would take the eye of a God

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out

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

One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake

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

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass

A book ought to be the ax to break the frozen sea within us

We shall find peace. We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds

Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit

The university brings out all abilities, including incapability

The more refined one is, the more unhappy

To advise is not to compel

There is nothing new in art except talent

Reason and justice tell me there's more love for humanity in electricity and steam than in chastity and vegetarianism

You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.

Love, friendship and respect do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something.

Conciseness is the sister of talent

An artist's flair is sometimes worth a scientist's brains

If I had listened to the critics I'd have died drunk in the gutter

If you are afraid of loneliness, don't marry.