Quotes from Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Neither I nor anyone else knows what a standard is. We all recognize a dishonorable act, but have no idea what honor is.

It is a poor thing for the writer to take on that which he doesnt understand.

The more simply we look at ticklish questions, the more placid will be our lives and relationships.

My holy of holies is the human body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love, and the most absolute freedom imaginable, freedom from violence and lies, no matter what form the latter two take. Such is the program I would adhere to if I were a major artist.

I am in mourning for my life. I am unhappy.

I would like to be a free artist and nothing else, and I regret God has not given me the strength to be one.

I try to catch every sentence, every word you and I say, and quickly lock all these sentences and words away in my literary storehouse because they might come in handy.

One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.

I feel more confident and more satisfied when I reflect that I have two professions and not one. Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress. When I get tired of one I spend the night with the other. Though it's disorderly it's not so dull, and besides, neither really loses anything through my infidelity.

But perhaps the universe is suspended on the tooth of some monster.

An artist must pass judgment only on what he understands; his range is limited as that of any other specialist—that's what I keep repeating and insisting upon. Anyone who says that the artist's field is all answers and no questions has never done any writing or had any dealings with imagery. An artist observes, selects, guesses and synthesizes.

All Russia is our orchard.

When a man spends the least possible number of movements over one definite action, that is grace.

People should be beautiful in every way—in their faces, in the way they dress, in their thoughts and in their innermost selves.

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

Everyone has something to hide.

To Moscow, to Moscow, to Moscow!

He who desires nothing, hopes for nothing, and is afraid of nothing, cannot be an artist.

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, and the climate's ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day.

Ur pride and self-importance are European, while our development and actions are Asiatic.