An expansive life, one not constrained by four walls, requires as well an expansive pocket. Anton Chekhov More Quotes by Anton Chekhov More Quotes From Anton Chekhov Anna Petrovna (to Shabelsky): You can't make a simple joke without an injection of venom. You are a poisonous man. Joking apart, Count, you're very poisonous. It's hideously boring to live with you. You're always grumpy, complaining, you find everyone bad, good for nothing. Tell me frankly, Count, did you ever speak well of anyone? Anton Chekhov simplecomplainingmen Children are holy and pure. Even those of bandits and crocodiles belong among the angels.... They must not be turned into a plaything of one's mood, first to be tenderly kissed, then rabidly stomped at. Anton Chekhov angelchildrenfirsts What must human beings be, to destroy what they can never create? Anton Chekhov human-beingshumans Is it our job to judge? The gendarme, policemen and bureaucrats have been especially prepared by fate for that job. Our job is towrite, and only to write. Anton Chekhov fatewritingjobs Country acquaintances are charming only in the country and only in the summer. In the city in winter they lose half of their appeal. Anton Chekhov summerwintercountry A writer should not so much write as embroider on paper; the work should be painstaking, laborious. Anton Chekhov papershouldwriting A fiancé is neither this nor that: he's left one shore, but not yet reached the other. Anton Chekhov shoreengagementumpires I abide by a rule concerning reviews: I will never ask, neither in writing nor in person, that a word be put in about my book.... One feels cleaner this way. When someone asks that his book be reviewed he risks running up against a vulgarity offensive to authorial sensibilities. Anton Chekhov writingrunningbook People understand God as the expression of the most lofty morality. Maybe He needs only perfect people. Anton Chekhov expressionperfectpeople Please, understand that your life is bad and dreary! Anton Chekhov drearypleaselife-is I do not know why one should not hunt two hares even in the literal sense.... Anton Chekhov huntingdeterminationtwo A good person will feel guilty even before a dog. Anton Chekhov good-personguiltdog Love is a scandal of the personal sort. Anton Chekhov scandallove-islove My holy of holies is the human body. Anton Chekhov pharisaismholybody It's easier to ask for money from the poor than from the wealthy. Anton Chekhov easierpoormoney There will come a time when everybody will know why, for what purpose, there is all this suffering, and there will be no more mysteries. But now we must live ... we must work, just work! Anton Chekhov mysterypurposesuffering There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science. Anton Chekhov mathematicstablesscience In descriptions of nature one must seize on small details, grouping them so that when the reader closes his eyes he gets a picture. Anton Chekhov detailseyewriting At the door of every happy person there should be a man with a hammer whose knock would serve as a constant reminder of the existence of unfortunate people. Anton Chekhov responsibilityhappyhappiness A writer is not a confectioner, a cosmetic dealer, or an entertainer. Anton Chekhov entertainerscosmeticsdealer
