Quotes by 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.

Going to see plays isnt 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.

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 whats 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 is brutal, stupid, and profoundly unhappy?

And the existence is tedious, anyway; it is a senseless, dirty business, this life.

True happiness is impossible without solitude. The fallen angel probably betrayed God because he longed for solitude, which angels do not know.

Shabelsky: O mind of genius, you think up things for everyone and teach everyone, but why not for once teach me... Teach me, great brain, show me the way out...

I understand that in our work - doesnt matter whether its acting or writing - whats important isnt fame or glamour, none of the things I used to dream about, its the ability to endure.

Ivanov: I am a bad, pathetic and worthless individual. One needs to be pathetic, too, worn out and drained by drink, like Pasha, to be still fond of me and to respect me. My God, how I despise myself! I so deeply loathe my voice, my walk, my hands, these clothes, my thoughts. Well, isnt that funny, isnt that shocking? Less than a year ago I was healthy and strong, I was cheerful, tireless, passionate, I worked with these very hands, I could speak to move even Philistines to tears, I could cry when I saw grief, I became indignant when I encountered evil. I knew inspiration, I knew the charm and poetry of quiet nights when from dusk to dawn you sit at your desk or indulge you mind with dreams. I believed, I looked into the future as into the eyes of my own mother... And now, my God, I am exhausted, I do not believe, I spend my days and nights in idleness.

They were tough and sour, but as Pushkin said, Dearer to us than a host of truths is an exalting illusion. I saw a happy man, whose cherished dream had so obviously come true, who had attained his goal in life, had gotten what he wanted, who was content with his fate and with himself. For some reason there had always been something sad mixed with my thoughts about human happiness, but now, at the sight of a happy man, I was overcome by an oppressive feeling close to despair.- Gooseberries

He had two lives: one, open, seen and known by all who cared to know, full of relative truth and of relative falsehood, exactly like the lives of his friends and acquaintances; and another life running its course in secret. And through some strange, perhaps accidental, conjunction of circumstances, everything that was essential, of interest and of value to him, everything in which he was sincere and did not deceive himself, everything that made the kernel of his life, was hidden from other people.

When asked, Why do you always wear black?, he said, I am mourning for my life.

For the salvation of his soul the Muslim digs a well. It would be a fine thing if each of us were to leave behind a school, or a well, or something of the sort, so that life would not pass by and retreat into eternity without a trace.

Podtyagin considers whether to take offence or not -- and decides to take offence.

You dont understand, you fool says Yegor, looking dreamily up at the sky. Youve never understood what kind of person I am, nor will you in a million years... You just think Im a mad person who has thrown his life away... Once the free spirit has taken hold of a man, theres no way of getting it out of him.

LUBOV. Im quite sure there wasnt anything at all funny. You oughtnt 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.

Formerly, when I would feel a desire to understand someone, or myself, I would take into consideration not actions, in which everything is relative, but wishes. Tell me what you want and Ill tell you who you are.

If only you would go to the university, he said. Only enlightened and holy people are interesting, its only they who are wanted. The more of such people there are, the sooner the Kingdom of God will come on earth. Of your town then not one stone will be left, everything will he blown up from the foundations, everything will be changed as though by magic. And then there will be immense, magnificent houses here, wonderful gardens, marvellous fountains, remarkable people.... But thats not what matters most. What matters most is that the crowd, in our sense of the word, in the sense in which it exists now -- that evil will not exist then, because every man will believe and every man will know what he is living for and no one will seek moral support in the crowd. Dear Nadya, darling girl, go away! Show them all that you are sick of this stagnant, grey, sinful life. Prove it to yourself at least!

Ivanov: Once I worked hard and thought a lot but I never got tired; now I do nothing and think of nothing, but Im tired in body and spirit. My conscience aches day and night, I feel deeply guilty but I dont understand where I am actually at fault. And add to that my wifes illness, my lack of money, the constant bickering, gossip, unnecessary conversations, that stupid Borkin... My home has become loathsome to me and I find living there worse than torture.

If Makar Denisych was just a clerk or a junior manager, then no one would have dared talk to him in such a condescending, casual tone, but he is a writer, and a talentless medio

To torment and tantalize oneself with hopes of possible fortune is so sweet, so thrilling!