Quote

My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.

Anton Chekhov

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Anton Chekhov
Age: 44 †
Born: 1860
Born: January 1
Died: 1904
Died: January 1
Author
Dramaturge
Journalist
Novelist
Physician
Playwright
Prosaist
Satirist
Writer
Tahanroh
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Antón Pávlovič Čéhov
Antón Pávlovich Chékhov
Chekhov
Writing
Crosses
Beginning
Written
Lying
Story
Experience
Ends
Authors
Stories
Cross

More quotes by Anton Chekhov

Image
It is the writer's business not to accuse and not to prosecute, but to champion the guilty, once they are condemned and suffer punishment.
Anton Chekhov
Image
It's worth living abroad to study up on genteel and delicate manners. The maid smiles continuously she smiles like a duchess on a stage, while at the same time it is clear from her face that she is exhausted from overwork.
Anton Chekhov
Image
Wisdom.... comes not from age, but from education and learning.
Anton Chekhov
Image
In short stories it is better to say not enough than to say too much, because, because--I don't know why.
Anton Chekhov
Image
One had better not rush, otherwise dung comes out rather than creative work.
Anton Chekhov
Image
It always seems to the brothers and the father that their brother or son didn't marry the right person.
Anton Chekhov
Image
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
Image
Nothing lulls and inebriates like money when you have a lot, the world seems a better place than it actually is.
Anton Chekhov
Image
Every person lives his real, most interesting life under the cover of secrecy.
Anton Chekhov
Image
In all the universe nothing remains permanent and unchanged but the spirit.
Anton Chekhov
Image
The stupider the peasant, the better the horse understands him.
Anton Chekhov
Image
Each of us is full of too many wheels, screws and valves to permit us to judge one another on a first impression or by two or three external signs.
Anton Chekhov
Image
When asked, Why do you always wear black?, he said, I am mourning for my life.
Anton Chekhov
Image
It is easier to ask of the poor than of the rich.
Anton Chekhov
Image
The task of a writer is not to solve the problem but to state the problem correctly.
Anton Chekhov
Image
To describe drunkenness for the colorful vocabulary is rather cynical. There is nothing easier than to capitalize on drunkards.
Anton Chekhov
Image
Art, especially the stage, is an area where it is impossible to walk without stumbling.
Anton Chekhov
Image
[Six principles that make for a good story:] 1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of a political-social-economic nature 2. total objectivity 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects 4. extreme brevity 5. audacity and originality: flee the stereotype 6. compassion.
Anton Chekhov
Image
Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress when I get tired of one, I spend the night with the other.
Anton Chekhov
Image
Death can only be profitable: there's no need to eat, drink, pay taxes, offend people, and since a person lies in a grave for hundreds or thousands of years, if you count it up the profit turns out to be enormous.
Anton Chekhov