“Perhaps man has a hundred senses, and when he dies only the five senses that we know perish with him, and the other ninety-five remain alive.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“I should think I'm going to be a perpetual student.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“We just philosophize, complain of boredom, or drink vodka. It's so clear, you see, that if we're to begin living in the present, we must first of all redeem our past and then be done with it forever. And the only way we can redeem our past is by suffering and by giving ourselves over to exceptional labor, to steadfast and endless labor.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“A hungry dog believes in nothing but meat.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Going to see plays isn't what you people should do. Try looking at yourselves a little more often and see what gray lives you all lead. How much of what you say is unnecessary.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“They are all very serious people with stern expressions on their faces. They discuss nothing but important matters and like to philosophize a great deal, while at the same time everyone can see that the workers are detestably fed, sleep without suitable bedding, thirty to forty in a room with bedbugs everywhere, the stench, the dampness, and the moral corruption... Obviously all our fine talk has gone on simply to hoodwink ourselves and other people as well. Show me the day nurseries that they're talking about so much about. And where are the libraries? Why, they just write about nurseries and libraries in novels, while in fact not a single one even exists. What does exist is nothing but dirt, vulgarity, and a barbarian way of life... I dislike these terribly serious faces, they frighten me, and I'm afraid of serious conversations, too. We'd be better off if we all would just shut up for a while!”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“What she can't get into her narrow mind is that we're above such things as love. Our whole aim - the whole sense of our life - is to avoid petty illusions that stop us being free and happy. On, on, on!”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“But if we reason it out simply and not try to be one bit fancy, then what sort of pride can you possibly take or what's the sense of ever having it, if man is poorly put together as a physiological type and if the enormous majority of the human race is brutal, stupid, and profoundly unhappy?”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“I am a man of cultivation; I have studied various remarkable books, but I cannot fathom the direction of my preferences; do I want to live or do I want to shoot myself, so to speak? But in order to be ready for all contingencies, I always carry a revolver in my pocket.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“LUBOV. I'm quite sure there wasn't anything at all funny. You oughtn't to go and see plays, you ought to go and look at yourself. What a grey life you lead, what a lot you talk unnecessarily.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“There is something mystical in the proud man in the sense in which you use the words. You may be right from your point of view, but, if we look at it simple-mindedly, what room is there for pride? Is there any sense in it, when man is so poorly constructed from the physiological point of view, when the vast majority of us are so gross and stupid and profoundly unhappy? We must give up admiring ourselves. The only thing to do is to work.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“We shall die all the same.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“I know exactly the potential of the people around here. They have the potential to lie. They have the potential to deceive. They have the potential to inveigle. They’ll change nothing. Sometimes, when I can’t sleep, I lie awake thinking, my God! We have so much. We have these huge forests. We have boundless open fields. We can see the deepest, furthest horizons. Look around you. Look. We should be giants. We really, really aren’t.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Life’s all done, just as if I never even lived it ...”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Daca pentru o boala se prescriu multe leacuri, sa stii ca boala e de nelecuit.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Dã-mi, Doamne, ce n-am gîndit, sã mã mir ce m-a gãsit... Aşa şi cu mine. De îmbogãţit m-am îmbogãţit, am parale cu carul... Dar cînd stau sã chibzuiesc şi sã judec mai bine, tot ţãran am rãmas...”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Cîteodatã, cînd nu pot s-adorm, mã gîndesc: «Doamne, tu ne-ai dat pãduri nesfîrsite, cîmpii cît vezi cu ochii, zãri fãrã de margini, si trãind în ele, ar fi trebuit sã fim si noi niste uriasi...»”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Rãsare luna. (Pauzã.) latã fericirea! Uite-o, vine, se apropie tot mai mult, tot mai mult, îi aud pasii. Si chiar dacã noi n-o vom vedea, n-o vom cunoaste, n-are nici o importanþã... Vor vedea-o altii!”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Tot ceea ce ne depăşeşte azi într-o zi va fi un lucru pe înţelesul tuturor, obişnuit.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“E ca o piatră care-mi stă legată de gat şi mă trage la fund, dar vezi, eu iubesc piatra asta şi nu pot fără ea.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Noi filozofãm doar, ne plîngem de plictisealã si bem vodcã. Vezi, e atît de limpede cã pentru a începe sã trãiesti cu adevãrat trebuie mai întîi sã-þi rãscumperi trecutul, sã isprãveºti cu el! Si nu poþi sã-l rãscumperi decît prin suferinþã, printr-o muncã uriasã si neîntreruptã!”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Dar cîti oameni sînt, frate, în Rusia, care nici nu stiu de ce sînt pe pãmînt!”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Dulapul a fost făcut exact acum o sută de ani. Ce spui? Am putea să-i serbăm jubileul! Fără îndoială, e un lucru neînsufletit, totusi, oricum ar fi, e un dulap de cărti. (…) (Pipãind dulapul.) Dulap scump si stimat! Salut existenta ta, care de o sutã de ani e destinatã idealului luminos al binelui si dreptãtii! Chemarea ta tãcutã pentru o muncã rodnicã n-a slãbit de-alungul unui veac întreg, susþinînd (printre lacrimi) în familia noastrã, din tatã în fiu, curajul si credina generatiilor într-un viitor mai bun, crescîndu-ne în spiritul idealurilor de bine si ale constiinþei sociale...”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Varia se teme sã nu ne îndrãgostim unul de altul si se þine toatã ziua de noi. Cu mintea ei strîmtã, ea nu poate înþelege cã noi suntem mai presus de dragoste, cã nãzuim sã ne ridicãm peste tot ce e meschin si trecãtor, peste tot ceea ce ne împiedicã sã fim liberi si fericiþi. Iatã adevãratul înþeles si þelul vieþii noastre: înainte! Nimic nu ne va opri sã ne urmãm calea spre steaua ce strãluceste aprinsã în depãrtare. Inainte, deci! Sã nu rãmîneti în urmã, prieteni...”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“I love him, love him. He's a millstone round my neck - he'll take me to the bottom with him. But I love this millstone of mine - I can't live without it.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“أنا أخاف السحنات الجدية جدا ولا أحبها ، أخاف الأحاديث الجدية ، الأفضل أن نصمت !”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Varia a peur que nous ne tombions amoureux l'un de l'autre. Elle ne peut pas comprendre, avec son esprit étroit, que nous sommes au-dessus de l'amour.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“О, мои грехи... Я всегда сорила деньгами без удержу, как сумасшедшая,”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Надо перестать восхищаться собой. Надо бы только работать.”
― Anton Chekhov, quote from The Cherry Orchard
“Two aspects of thinking in particular are pronounced in both creative and hypomanic thought: fluency, rapidity, and flexibility of thought on the one hand, and the ability to combine ideas or categories of thought in order to form new and original connections on the other. The importance of rapid, fluid, and divergent thought in the creative process has been described by most psychologists and writers who have studied human imagination. The increase in the speed of thinking may exert its influence in different ways. Speed per se, that is, the quantity of thoughts and associations produced in a given period of time, may be enhanced. The increased quantity and speed of thoughts may exert an effect on the qualitative aspects of thought as well; that is, the sheer volume of thought can produce unique ideas and associations. Indeed, Sir Walter Scott, when discussing Byron's mind, commented: "The wheels of a machine to play rapidly must not fit with the utmost exactness else the attrition diminishes the Impetus." The quickness and fire of Byron's mind were not lost on others who knew him. One friend wrote: "The mind of Lord Byron was like a volcano, full of fire and wealth, sometimes calm, often dazzling and playful, but ever threatening. It ran swift as the lightning from one subject to another, and occasionally burst forth in passionate throes of intellect, nearly allied to madness." Byron's mistress, Teresa Guiccoli, noted: "New and striking thoughts followed from him in rapid succession, and the flame of genius lighted up as if winged with wildfire.”
― Kay Redfield Jamison, quote from Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament
“They’d been afloat now without food, water, shelter, or sleep for over forty hours. Of the 1,196 crew13 members who’d set sail from Guam three days earlier, probably no more than 600 were still alive. In the previous twenty-four hours alone, at least 200 had likely slipped beneath the waves or been victims of shark attack. Since the sinking, each boy had been floating through the hours asking himself the same hard question: Will I live, or do I quit?”
― Doug Stanton, quote from In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors
“If I didn’t think it would get me hurt in the end … I’d be the guy who got serious for you.” His”
― Samantha Young, quote from Into the Deep
“Tout le monde a des choses à dire sur les femmes, les hommes, les flics, les assassins. Nous généralisons à partir de notre propre expérience, de ce qui nous arrange, de ce que l'on peut comprendre avec les maigres moyens de nos réseaux neuronaux et suivant la perspective de notre vision. C'est une facilité qui permet de penser rapidement, de juger et de se positionner. Cela n'a pas de valeur en soi, ce sont des signaux, des petits drapeaux que chacun agite. Et tout le monde défend la vérité de ses avantages, de son sexe, de sa fortune.”
― Martin Page, quote from How I Became Stupid
“Crazy must run in your family,” he says.
“You do know Fia!” I blurt, then bite my lip.”
― Kiersten White, quote from Perfect Lies
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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