Quotes from Anton Chekhov

Money, like vodka, turns a person into an eccentric.

The world perishes not from bandits and fires, but from hatred, hostility, and all these petty squabbles.

There ought to be a man with a hammer behind the door of every happy man.

The more cultured a man, the less fortunate he is.

It is depressing to hear the unfortunate or dying man jest.

A naive man is nothing better than a fool. But you women contrive to be naive in such a way that in you it seems sweet, and gentle, and proper, and not as silly as it really is.

It's easier to ask for money from the poor than from the wealthy.

Nothing lulls and inebriates like money; when you have a lot, the world seems a better place than it actually is.

When an actor has money he doesn't send letters, he sends telegrams.

The wealthy man is not he who has money, but he who has the means to live in the luxurious state of early spring.

Happiness does not await us all. One needn't be a prophet to say that there will be more grief and pain than serenity and money. That is why we must hang on to one another.

Exquisite nature, daydreams, and music say one thing, real life another.

Everything on earth is beautiful, everything -- except what we ourselves think and do when we forget the higher purposes of life and our own human dignity.

There are no small number of people in this world who, solitary by nature, always try to go back into their shell like a hermit crab or a snail.

In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But with human beings it is the other way round: a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive caterpillar.

Do you know when you may concede your insignificance? Before God or, perhaps, before the intellect, beauty, or nature, but not before people. Among people, one must be conscious of one's dignity.

In descriptions of nature one must seize on small details, grouping them so that when the reader closes his eyes he gets a picture.

By nature servile, people attempt at first glance to find signs of good breeding in the appearance of those who occupy more exalted stations.

I long to embrace, to include in my own short life, all that is accessible to man.

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!

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

The more refined one is, the more unhappy.

Life does not agree with philosophy: There is no happiness that is not idleness, and only what is useless is pleasurable.

Everyone has the same God; only people differ.