Quotes by Anton Chekhov

About Anton Chekhov:

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress." Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theater.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Why are we worn out? Why do we, who start out so passionate, brave, noble, believing, become totally bankrupt by the age of thirty or thirty-five? Why is it that one is extinguished by consumption, another puts a bullet in his head, a third seeks obl...

Anton Chekhov

A hungry dog believes in nothing but meat.

Anton Chekhov

We just philosophize, complain of boredom, or drink vodka. It's so clear, you see, that if we're to begin living in the present, we must first of all redeem our past and then be done with it forever. And the only way we can redeem our past is by suff...

Anton Chekhov

Going to see plays isn't what you people should do. Try looking at yourselves a little more often and see what gray lives you all lead. How much of what you say is unnecessary.

Anton Chekhov

And what does it mean -- dying? Perhaps man has a hundred senses, and only the five we know are lost at death, while the other ninety-five remain alive.

Anton Chekhov

But if we reason it out simply and not try to be one bit fancy, then what sort of pride can you possibly take or what's the sense of ever having it, if man is poorly put together as a physiological type and if the enormous majority of the human race ...

Anton Chekhov

LUBOV. I'm quite sure there wasn't anything at all funny. You oughtn't to go and see plays, you ought to go and look at yourself. What a grey life you lead, what a lot you talk unnecessarily.

Anton Chekhov

In all nature there seemed to be a feeling of hopelessness and pain. The earth, like a ruined woman sitting alone in a dark room and trying not to think of the past, was brooding over memories of spring and summer and apathetically waiting for the in...

Anton Chekhov

As a rule, however fine and deep a phrase may be, it only affects the indifferent, and cannot fully satisfy those who are happy or unhappy; that is why dumbness is most often the highest expression of happiness or unhappiness; lovers understand each ...

Anton Chekhov

The snow has not yet left the earth, but spring is already asking to enter your heart. If you have ever recovered from a serious illness, you will be familiar with the blessed state when you are in a delicious state of anticipation, and are liable to...

Anton Chekhov

Science and art,... they seek the truth and the meaning of life, they seek God, [and] the soul, and when they are harnessed to passing needs and activities,... then they only complicate and encumber life.

Anton Chekhov

And you know that anyone who at least once in his life has caught a perch or seen blackbirds migrating in the fall, when they rush in flocks over the village on clear, cool days, is no longer a townsman, and will be drawn towards freedom till his dyi...

Anton Chekhov

The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths.

Anton Chekhov

The geniuses of all ages and of all lands speak different languages but the same flame burns in them all. Oh, if you only knew what unearthly happiness my soul feels now from being able to understand them.

Anton Chekhov

The past is called the past for a reason. If you are constantly looking behind you, your eyes aren't on the road ahead. You don't drive the car that way, so why should you live your life that way?

Anton Chekhov

Don't forget either, you unhappy man, that voluntary confinement is a great deal harder to bear than compulsory.

Anton Chekhov

I would drink that whole bottle if I knew it wouldn’t get me completely drunk. I miss wine.” “Um, you haven’t had it for one night, and you miss it?” “Clearly, you underestimate my relationship with wine and what I do on the weekends when...

Anton Chekhov

We learn about life not from plusses alone, but from minuses as well.

Anton Chekhov

There is nothing new in art except talent.

Anton Chekhov

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

Anton Chekhov

Three o'clock in the morning. The soft April night is looking at my windows and caressingly winking at me with its stars. I can't sleep, I am so happy.

Anton Chekhov

Author Bio

  • NameAnton Chekhov
  • DescriptionRussian physician, dramatist and author
  • BornJanuary 29, 1860
  • DiedJuly 14, 1904
  • CountryRussian Empire
  • ProfessionWriter; Playwright; Physician; Novelist
  • WorksThe Seagull; The Cherry Orchard; Uncle Vanya
  • AwardsPushkin Prize