Anton Chekhov quotes - page 3

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. (Anton Chekhov)
One can prove or refute anything at all with words. Soon people will perfect language technology to such an extent that they'll be proving with mathematical precision that twice two is seven. View quote
Anton Chekhov
In two or three hundred years life on earth will be unimaginably beautiful, astounding. Man needs such a life and if it hasn't yetappeared, he should begin to anticipate it, wait for it, dream about it, prepare for it. To achieve this, he has to see and know more than did his grandfather and father. View quote
Anton Chekhov
God's world is a good place. The one thing not good in it is we. How little justice and humility there is in us. How little we understand true patriotism! View quote
Anton Chekhov
It's worth living abroad to study up on genteel and delicate manners. The maid smiles continuously; she smiles like a duchess on a stage, while at the same time it is clear from her face that she is exhausted from overwork. View quote
Anton Chekhov
Once you've married, be strict but just with your wife, don't allow her to forget herself, and when a misunderstanding arises, say: "Don't forget that I made you happy. View quote
Anton Chekhov
Death can only be profitable: there's no need to eat, drink, pay taxes, offend people, and since a person lies in a grave for hundreds or thousands of years, if you count it up the profit turns out to be enormous. View quote
Anton Chekhov
A man who doesn't drink is not, in my opinion, fully a man. View quote
Anton Chekhov
There are people whom even children's literature would corrupt. They read with particular enjoyment the piquant passages in the Psalter and in the Wisdom of Solomon. View quote
Anton Chekhov
He who doesn't know how to be a servant should never be allowed to be a master; the interests of public life are alien to anyone who is unable to enjoy others' successes, and such a person should never be entrusted with public affairs. View quote
Anton Chekhov
Just as I shall lie alone in the grave, so, in essence, do I live alone. (Anton Chekhov)
It seems to me that all of the evil in life comes from idleness, boredom, and psychic emptiness, but all of that is inevitable when you become accustomed to living at others' expense. View quote
Anton Chekhov
There 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. View quote
Anton Chekhov
Is it our job to judge? The gendarme, policemen and bureaucrats have been especially prepared by fate for that job. Our job is towrite, and only to write. View quote
Anton Chekhov
Tell me, pleez, my sawl, when will I live like human, 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. View quote
Anton Chekhov
You will not become a saint through other people's sins. View quote
Anton Chekhov
There is nothing more awful, insulting, and depressing than banality. View quote
Anton Chekhov
When a person is born, he can embark on only one of three roads of life: if you go right, the wolves will eat you; if you go left, you'll eat the wolves; if you go straight, you'll eat yourself. View quote
Anton Chekhov
A woman can become a man's friend only in the following stages - first an acquantaince, next a mistress, and only then a friend. View quote
Anton Chekhov
The unhappy are egotistical, base, unjust, cruel, and even less capable of understanding one another than are idiots. Unhappiness does not unite people, but separates them... View quote
Anton Chekhov
In my opinion it is harmful to place important things in the hands of philanthropy, which in Russia is marked by a chance character. Nor should important matters depend on leftovers, which are never there. I would prefer that the government treasury take care of it. (Anton Chekhov)
Better a debauched canary than a pious wolf. View quote
Anton Chekhov
The government is not God. It does not have the right to take away that which it can't return even if it wants to. View quote
Anton Chekhov
If you wish women to love you be original; I know a man who used to wear felt boots summer and winter & women fell in love with him. View quote
Anton Chekhov
Lying is the same as alcoholism. Liars prevaricate even on their deathbeds. View quote
Anton Chekhov