“When a person is born, he can embark on only one of three roads of life: if you go right, the wolves will eat you; if you go left, you’ll eat the wolves; if you go straight, you’ll eat yourself.”
Anton Chekhov
PinThere is nothing new in art except talent.PinDon’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
“The thoughts that occur to me while I’m running are like clouds in the sky. Clouds of all different sizes. They come and they go, while the sky remains the same sky always.”
Anton Chekhov
PinPeople should be beautiful in every way – in their faces, in the way they dress, in their thoughts, and in their innermost selves.PinKnowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.PinWhat a fine weather today! Can’t choose whether to drink tea or to hang myself.PinMan is what he believes.PinPeople don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.PinAny idiot can face a crisis; it’s the day-to-day living that wears you out.
19 Thought-Provoking Anton Chekhov Quotes About Life
“To be a human being among people and to remain one forever, no matter in what circumstances, not to grow despondent and not to lose heart – that’s what life is all about, that’s its task.”
Anton Chekhov
PinLet 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.PinThe world is, of course, nothing but our conception of it.PinThe sea has neither meaning nor pity.PinIt’s easier to talk about things than to actually do them.PinThe only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.PinWe shall find peace. We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.PinI am not a teacher, but an awakener.PinFaith is an aptitude of the spirit. It is, in fact, a talent: you must be born with it.PinThe hardest thing is to live richly in the present without letting it be tainted out of fear for the future or regret for the past.PinTo advise is not to compel.PinPeople are drawn to those who give off positive energy because they are energized themselves by the same things.PinThe only thing that makes one place more attractive to me than another is the quantity of heart I find in it.PinWe learn about life not from plusses alone, but from minuses as well.PinThere is nothing more terrible than ignorance in action.PinThere are people who are too intelligent to ever be classified as human.PinPeople who lead a lonely existence always have something on their minds that they are eager to talk about.PinOne must never lose time in vainly regretting the past or in complaining about the changes which cause us discomfort, for change is the very essence of life.PinI am not a politician, and my other habits are also good.
18 Wise Anton Chekhov Quotes
PinThe world is always in movement.PinLove, friendship and respect do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something.PinYou must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.PinIf you are afraid of loneliness, don’t marry.PinMan is born to live and not to prepare for life.PinIf you are afraid of wolves, keep out of the woods.PinA human being is a being who is constantly ‘under construction,’ but also, in a parallel fashion, always in a state of constant destruction.PinOne must know how to use the daylight to advantage.PinIn order to change the world, you have to get your head together first.PinAll of life and human relations have become so incomprehensibly complex that, when you think about it, it becomes terrifying and your heart stands still.PinYou are sure to be comfortable if you enjoy what you are doing.PinA good upbringing means not that you won’t spill sauce on the tablecloth, but that you won’t notice it when someone else does.PinThe thirst for powerful sensations takes the upper hand both over fear and over compassion for the grief of others.PinA clever, ugly man every now and then is successful with the ladies, but a handsome fool is irresistible.PinThe worst thing about being lied to is knowing you’re not worth the truth.PinWhen you’re thirsty and it seems that you could drink the entire ocean, that’s faith; when you start to drink and finish only a glass or two, that’s science.PinThe most terrifying thing in the world is to accept oneself completely.PinI promise to be an excellent husband, but give me a wife who, like the moon, will not appear every day in my sky.
6 Anton Chekhov Quotes About Happiness
PinThe greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness.PinOne must never look for happiness: one meets it by the way.PinLife does not agree with philosophy: There is no happiness that is not idleness, and only what is useless is pleasurable.PinThe person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another’s keeping.PinMan is unhappy because he doesn’t know he’s happy.PinHappiness does not depend on what you have or who you are. It solely relies on what you think.
3 Anton Chekhov Quotes About Medicine
PinDoctors are just the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.PinWhen a lot of remedies are suggested for a disease, that means it cannot be cured.PinMedicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress.
10 Anton Chekhov Quotes About Women
“The strength of a woman is not measured by the impact that all her hardships in life have had on her, but the strength of a woman is measured by the extent of her refusal to allow those hardships to dictate her and who she becomes.”
Anton Chekhov
PinWomen, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.PinWhen a woman isn’t beautiful, people always say, ‘You have lovely eyes, you have lovely hair.’PinIt’s easier to write about Socrates than about a young woman or a cook.PinA woman can become a man’s friend only in the following stages – first an acquaintance, then a mistress, and after that a friend.PinA woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.PinThe emancipation of women is not an act of charity, it’s a basic necessity for the revolution to triumph.PinThere is nothing more beautiful than a woman who is comfortable in her own skin.PinA woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets.PinThe only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own.
3 Anton Chekhov Quotes on Being an Artist
PinThe function of the artist is to make people feel.PinThe role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them.PinAn artist is not a master of himself, he is not the master of his subject, but he is a servant of his vision.
9 Anton Chekhov Quotes on Love
“Love, she thought, must come suddenly, with great outbursts and lightnings, a hurricane of the skies, which falls upon life, revolutionizes it, roots up the will like a leaf, and sweeps the whole heart into the abyss.”
Anton Chekov
PinEverything that I understand, I understand only because I love.PinA person who doesn’t love himself cannot love anyone else (either).PinOne must not trifle with love.PinLove, like fire, goes out without fuel.PinThe most important thing in life is human relationships.PinLove, to be real, must always involve some self-sacrifice.PinThe heart can only be conquered by love and patience.PinThe best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.
4 Anton Chekhov Quotes on Writing
PinA writer is not a confectioner, a cosmetic dealer, or an entertainer. He is a man who has signed a contract with his conscience and his sense of duty.PinA writer should be as objective as a chemist; he should lay aside his personal desires and prejudices and study his subject from every angle.PinI have no taste for either poverty or honest labor, so writing is the only recourse left for me.PinA writer should not be too intelligent, nor too stupid, but somewhere in between.
6 Anton Chekhov Quotes That Will Make You Think
To be a human being among people and remain one forever, no matter in what circumstances, not to grow despondent or be embittered, to keep the human heart and not to lose faith in man – this is what life is all about, this is its task.
Anton Chekhov
PinThe present is always difficult, but all would be different if we had faith in the future.PinIn the midst of life, death has its dominion.PinThere is no national science just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science.PinIn order to understand life, you have to live it, not observe it.PinNo psychologist should pretend to understand what he does not understand. Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand nothing.