Silence accompanies the most significant expressions of happiness and unhappiness: those in love understand one another best when silent, while the most heated and impassioned speech at a graveside touches only outsiders, but seems cold and inconsequential to the widow and children of the deceased.
—Anton Chekhov
People who lead a lonely existence always have something on their minds that they are eager to talk about.
—Anton Chekhov
Topics: Existence
The more refined one is, the more unhappy.
—Anton Chekhov
Topics: One liners, Unhappiness
Man is what he believes.
—Anton Chekhov
Topics: Believe, Positive Attitudes, Optimism, Thoughts, Belief, Thought, Thinking
We shall find peace. We shall hear angels. We shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.
—Anton Chekhov
Capital punishment kills immediately, whereas lifetime imprisonment does so slowly. Which executioner is more humane? The one who kills you in a few minutes, or the one who wrests your life from you in the course of many years?
—Anton Chekhov
You will not become a saint through other people’s sins.
—Anton Chekhov
Reason and justice tell me there’s more love for humanity in electricity and steam than in chastity and vegetarianism.
—Anton Chekhov
All of life and human relations have become so incomprehensibly complex that, when you think about it, it becomes terrifying and your heart stands still.
—Anton Chekhov
Michael Astroff says that forests are the ornaments of the earth, that they teach mankind to understand beauty and attune his mind to lofty sentiments. Forests temper a stern climate, and in countries where the climate is milder, less strength is wasted in the battle with nature, and the people are kind and gentle.
—Anton Chekhov
Love, friendship and respect do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something.
—Anton Chekhov
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
William H. Gass American Short Story Writer
Damon Runyon American Writer, Journalist
Eudora Welty American Short Story Writer
Andre Dubus American Short Story Writer
V. S. Pritchett British Short Story Writer
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) British Short Story Writer
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Russian Novelist
Katherine Mansfield British Author
Leo Tolstoy Russian Novelist
Catherine II of Russia Russian Empress