Quote

In my opinion it is harmful to place important things in the hands of philanthropy, which in Russia is marked by a chance character. Nor should important matters depend on leftovers, which are never there. I would prefer that the government treasury take care of it.

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
Take
Opinion
Treasury
Important
Chance
Marked
Things
Place
Philanthropy
Never
Hands
Depend
Would
Character
Prefer
Care
Russia
Government
Matters
Leftovers
Matter
Depends
Harmful

More quotes by Anton Chekhov

Image
You look boldly ahead isn't it only that you don't see or divine anything terrible in the future because life is still hidden from your young eyes.
Anton Chekhov
Image
Satiation, like any state of vitality, always contains a degree of impudence, and that impudence emerges first and foremost when the sated man instructs the hungry one.
Anton Chekhov
Image
And it is the way with us that you may express disapproval of the sun or the moon, or anything you like, but God preserve you from touching the Liberals! Heaven forbid!
Anton Chekhov
Image
A litterateur is not a confectioner, not a dealer in cosmetics, not an entertainer. . . . He is just like an ordinary reporter. What would you say if a newspaper reporter, because of his fastidiousness or from a wish to give pleasure to his readers, were to describe only honest mayors, high-minded ladies, and virtuous railroad contractors.
Anton Chekhov
Image
And what does it mean -- dying? Perhaps man has a hundred senses, and only the five we know are lost at death, while the other ninety-five remain alive.
Anton Chekhov
Image
It is a bad thing if a writer tackles a subject he does not understand.
Anton Chekhov
Image
Who keeps the tavern and serves up the drinks? The peasant. Who squanders and drinks up money belonging to the peasant commune, the school, the church? The peasant. Who would steal from his neighbor, commit arson, and falsely denounce another for a bottle of vodka? The peasant.
Anton Chekhov
Image
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
Image
There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table what is national is no longer science.
Anton Chekhov
Image
Love, friendship and respect do not unite people as much as common hatred for something.
Anton Chekhov
Image
If you cry ''Forward'' you must be sure to make clear the direction in which to go. Don't you see that if you fail to do that and simply call out the word to a monk and a revolutionary, they will go in precisely opposite directions?
Anton Chekhov
Image
The wealthy man is not he who has money, but he who has the means to live in the luxurious state of early spring.
Anton Chekhov
Image
The problem is that we attempt to solve the simplest questions cleverly, thereby rendering them unusually complex. One should seekthe simple solution.
Anton Chekhov
Image
Dear, sweet, unforgettable childhood! Why does this irrevocable time, forever departed, seem brighter, more festive and richer than it actually was?
Anton Chekhov
Image
In order to cultivate yourself and to drop no lower than the level of the milieu in which you have landed, it is not enough to read Pickwick and memorize a monologue from Faust... You need to work continually day and night, to read ceaselessly, to study, to exercise your will... Each hour is precious.
Anton Chekhov
Image
Narrative prose is a legal wife, while drama is a posturing, boisterous, cheeky and wearisome mistress.
Anton Chekhov
Image
The secret of boring people lies in telling them everything.
Anton Chekhov
Image
How unbearable at times are people who are happy, people for whom everything works out.
Anton Chekhov
Image
I am writing a play which I probably will not finish until the end of November. I am writing it with considerable pleasure, though I sin frightfully against the conventions of the stage. It is a comedy with three female parts, six male, four acts, a landscape (view of the lake), lots of talk on literature, little action and tons of love.
Anton Chekhov
Image
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.
Anton Chekhov