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Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
- If a lot of cures are suggested for a disease, it means that the disease is incurable.The Cherry Orchard (1904) act 1
- The Lord God has given us vast forests, immense fields, wide horizons; surely we ought to be giants, living in such a country as this.The Cherry Orchard (1904) act 2
- medvedenko: Why do you wear black all the time?
masha: I'm in mourning for my life, I'm unhappy.The Seagull (1896) act 1 - 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 every day.Uncle Vanya (1897) act 1
- A woman can become a man's friend only in the following stages—first an acquaintance, next a mistress, and only then a friend.Uncle Vanya (1897) act 2
- When a woman isn't beautiful, people always say, ‘You have lovely eyes, you have lovely hair.’Uncle Vanya (1897) act 3
- A writer must be as objective as a chemist: he must abandon the subjective line; he must know that dung-heaps play a very reasonable part in a landscape, and that evil passions are as inherent in life as good ones.letter to M. V. Kiselev, 14 January 1887
- Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress. When I get tired of one I spend the night with the other.letter to A. S. Suvorin, 11 September 1888
- Brevity is the sister of talent.letter to Alexander Chekhov, 11 April 1889
- Women deprived of the company of men pine, men deprived of the company of women become stupid.Notebooks (1921)
- Love, friendship, respect do not unite people as much as common hatred for something.Notebooks (1921)
- If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.I. Ya. Gurlyand ‘Reminiscences of A. P. Chekhov, in Teatr i iskusstvo 11 July 1904
