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Theatre Quotes by Anton Chekhov

14 Theatre quotes by Anton Chekhov

All Theatre quotes Anton Chekhov’s page

The stage, for Chekhov, is a mirror that reflects society’s quirks and the fragile pulse of everyday life. His observations turn ordinary moments into dramatic lessons, urging audiences to listen to silence and read between lines. Expect poignant phrasing that captures the bittersweet cadence of human interaction.

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If there is a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, it must fire in the last.

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One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.

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Never bring a cannon on stage in Act I unless you intend to fire it by the last act.

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Art, especially the stage, is an area where it is impossible to walk without stumbling.

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I swear fearfully at the conventions of the stage.

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The teacher must be an actor, an artist,passionately in love with his work.

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When an actor has money he doesn't send letters, he sends telegrams.

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Narrative prose is a legal wife, while drama is a posturing, boisterous, cheeky and wearisome mistress.

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The critics suppose that it is easy to write a play. They aren't aware that writing a good play is difficult and…

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I am writing a play which I probably will not finish until the end of November. I am writing it with considerable…

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Let the things that happen on the stage be just as complex and yet just as simple as they are in life.…

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Art, especially the stage, is an area where it is impossible to walk without stumbling. There are in store for you many…

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Sometimes we go to a play and after the curtain has been up five minutes we have a sense of being able…

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I will begin with what in my opinion is your lack of restraint. You are like a spectator in a theatre who…

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More by Anton Chekhov

“Using vile means to attain worthy ends makes the ends themselves vile. Let them ride on the backs of doctors and medical assistants, but…

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If ever my life can be of any use to you, come and claim it.

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There are still many more days of failure ahead, whole seasons of failure, things will go terribly wrong, you will have huge disappointments ,…

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“But here was all the timorousness and angularity of inexperienced youth, a feeling of awkwardness, and an impression of bewilderment, as if someone had…

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“At the water's edge, barrels of pitch blazed like huge bonfires. Their reflection, crimson as the rising moon, crept to meet us in long,…

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Anna Petrovna: Never talk to women about your own good qualities. Let them find out for themselves.

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While you're playing cards with a regular guy or having a bite to eat with him, he seems a peaceable, good-humoured and not entirely…

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“Lebedev: France has a clear and defined policy... The French know what they want. They just want to wipe out the Krauts, finish, but…

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“My holy of holies are the human body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love, and the most absolute freedom - freedom from force and falsity,…

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“What we have, we do not treasure,” and what’s more we do not even love it.”

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No matter how corrupt and unjust a convict may be, he loves fairness more than anything else. If the people placed over him are…

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“It is my opinion that every woman can be a writer.”

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“His reading suggested a man swimming in the sea among the wreckage of his ship, and trying to save his life by greedily clutching…

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“Experience often repeated, truly bitter experience, had taught him long ago that with decent people, especially Moscow people -- always slow to move and…

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“Why do you always wear black?” "I am mourning for my life.”

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