Image of Anton Chekhov aka Badass
People should be beautiful in every way - in their faces, in the way they dress, in their thoughts and in their innermost selves.
Uncle Vanya
Man is what he believes.
Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows a person who he should be.
We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.
To advise is not to compel.
If you are afraid of loneliness, do not marry.
The secret of boring people lies in telling them everything.
Love, friendship and respect do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something.
Medvienko: Why do you always wear black?
Masha: I am in mourning for my life. I am unhappy.
The Seagull
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.
Doctors are just the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.
Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress; when I get tired of one, I spend the night with the other.
The university brings out all abilities including incapability.
A writer is not a confectioner, a cosmetic dealer, or an entertainer. He is a man who has signed a contract with his conscious and his sense of duty.
When a lot of remedies are suggested for a disease, that means it can't be cured.
One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake.
The more refined one is, the more unhappy.
Taken From: http://taganrogcity.com/chekhov_quotes.html
Flies purify the air, and plays -- the morals.
Letter to A.P. Chekhov, April 11, 1889
In all the universe nothing remains permanent and unchanged but the spirit.
The Seagull
Try to be original in your play and as clever as possible; but don't be afraid to show yourself foolish; we must have freedom of thinking, and only he is an imancipated thinker who is not afraid to write foolish things.
Letter to A.P. Chekhov, April 11, 1889
One usually dislikes a play while writing it, but afterward it grows on one. Let others judge and make decisions.
Letter to Maxim Gorky, September 24, 1900
It's curious that we can't possibly tell what exactly will be considered great and important, and what will seem paltry and ridiculous. Did not the discoveries of Copernicus or Columbus, let us say, seem useless and ridiculous at first, while the nonsensical writings of some wiseacre seemed true?
The Three Sisters
When one sees one of the romantic creatures before him he imagines he is looking at some holy being, so wonderful that its one breath could dissolve him in a sea of a thousand charms and delights; but if one looks into the soul -- it's nothing but a common crocodile.
The Boor
Brevity is the sister of talent.
Letter to A.P. Chekhov, April 11, 1889
Wherever there is degeneration and apathy, there also is sexual perversion, cold depravity, miscarriage, premature old age, grumbling youth, there is a decline in the arts, indifference to science, and injustice in all its forms.
Letter to A.S. Suvorin, Dec. 27, 1889
We need new forms of expression. We need new forms, and if we can't have them we had better have nothing.
The Seagull
Write only of what is important and eternal.
The Seagull
I thought famous people were proud, unapproachable, that they despised the crowd, and by their fame and the glory of their name, as it were, revenged themselves on the vulgar herd for putting rank and wealth above everything. But here they cry and fish, play cards, laugh and get cross like everyone else!
The Seagull
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.
Letter to A.P. Chekhov, Oct. 13, 1888
Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he's been given. But up to now, he hasn't been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life's become extinct, the climate's ruined, and the land grows poorer and uglier.
Uncle Vanya
All I wanted was to say honestly to people: "Have a look at yourselves and see how bad and dreary your lives are!" The important thing is that people should realize that, for when they do, they will most certainly create another and better life for themselves. I will not live to see it, but I know that it will be quite different, quite unlike our present life. And so long as this different life does not exist, I shall go on saying to people again and again: "Please, understand that your life is bad and dreary!"
Letter to Alexander Tikhonov
Time will pass, and we shall go away for ever, and we shall be forgotten, our faces will be forgotten, our voices, and how many there were of us; but our sufferings will pass into joy for those who will live after us, happiness and peace will be established upon earth, and they will remember kindly and bless those who have lived before.
The Three Sisters
Try to reason about love, and you will lose your reason.
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