Quotes from Anton Chekhov

Dear, sweet, unforgettable childhood! Why does this irrevocable time, forever departed, seem brighter, more festive and richer than it actually was?

The time has come for writers, especially those who are artists, to admit that in this world one cannot make anything out, just as Socrates once admitted it, just as Voltaire admitted it.

It's been a long time since I've had champagne.

My love is like a stone tied round my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone. I can't live without it.

Try to reason about love, and you will lose your reason.

My holy of holies is the human body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love, and absolute freedom--freedom from violence and falsehood, no matter how the last two manifest themselves.

By poeticizing love, we imagine in those we love virtues that they often do not possess; this then becomes the source of constant mistakes and constant distress.

A writer is not a confectioner, a cosmetic dealer, or an entertainer.

Without a knowledge of languages you feel as if you don't have a passport.

A tree is beautiful, but what's more, it has a right to life; like water, the sun and the stars, it is essential. Life on earth is inconceivable without trees.

Life on earth is inconceivable without trees.

Do you see that tree? It is dead but it still sways in the wind with the others. I think it would be like that with me. That if I died I would still be part of life in one way or another.

It is as acceptable now to love the wives of others as it is to smoke their cigars and read their books.

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.

Love is a scandal of the personal sort.

No matter how corrupt and unjust a convict may be, he loves fairness more than anything else. If the people placed over him are unfair, from year to year he lapses into an embittered state characterized by an extreme lack of faith.

A sweet lie is more gracious for us than a virulent but real truth.

What is there flattering, amusing, or edifying in their carving your name on a tombstone, then time rubbing off the inscription together with the gilding?

Life is given only once, and one wants to live it boldly, with full conscious and beauty.

It's easier to write about Socrates than about a young woman or a cook.

Passion must be concealed in a society where cold reserve and indifference are the signs of good breeding.

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

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's this day-to-day living that wears you out.

If you cry "Forward," you must make plain in what direction to go.