“Straining the mind, wrinkling the brow, We write, write, write, Without respite Or hope of praise in the future or now.” — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
When men ask me how I know so much about men, they get a simple answer: everything I know about men, I… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
In descriptions of nature one must seize on small details, grouping them so that when the reader closes his eyes he gets… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
Women writers should write a lot if they want to write. Take the English women, for example. What amazing workers. — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
Narrative prose is a legal wife, while drama is a posturing, boisterous, cheeky and wearisome mistress. — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“Be sure not to discuss your hero's state of mind. Make it clear from his actions." ( Letter to Alexander Chekhov , May 10, 1886)” — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
It is a bad thing if a writer tackles a subject he does not understand. — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“Write whatever you like. If you haven't the facts, substitute lyricism.” — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
Everyone judges plays as if they were very easy to write. They don't know that it is hard to write a good… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“In displaying the psychology of your characters, minute particulars are essential. God save us from vague generalizations!" ( Letter to Alexander Chekhov , May 10, 1886)” — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
Write about this man who, drop by drop, squeezes the slave's blood out of himself until he wakes one day to find… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
The critics suppose that it is easy to write a play. They aren't aware that writing a good play is difficult and… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
Try to be original in your play and as clever as possible; but don't be afraid to show yourself foolish; we must… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
To a chemist, nothing on earth is unclean. A writer must be as objective as a chemist; he must abandon the subjective… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“Anyone who says the artist's field is all answers and no questions has never done any writing or had any dealings with… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
This man, who for twenty-five years has been reading and writing about art, and in all that time has never understood anything… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
When describing nature, a writer should seize upon small details, arranging them so that the reader will see an image in his… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
I abide by a rule concerning reviews: I will never ask, neither in writing nor in person, that a word be put… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
If an intelligent, educated, and healthy man begins to complain of his lot and go down-hill, there is nothing for him to… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
It is time for writers to admit that nothing in this world makes sense. Only fools and charlatans think they know and… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
I am writing a play which I probably will not finish until the end of November. I am writing it with considerable… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
I let myself go at the beginning and write with an easy mind, but by the time I get to the middle… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
My business is to be talented, that is, to be capable of selecting the important moments from the trivial ones. . .… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“If Makar Denisych was just a clerk or a junior manager, then no one would have dared talk to him in such… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“In my opinion it is not the writer's job to solve such problems as God, pessimism, etc; his job is merely to… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“Everything I have written up to now is trifling compared to that which I would like to write and would write with… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“In my opinion, it is not the writer’s job to solve such problems as the existence of God, pessimism, etc. The job… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
Cross out as many adjectives and adverbs as you can. ... It is comprehensible when I write: "The man sat on the… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired.… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
A writer should not so much write as embroider on paper; the work should be painstaking, laborious. — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
A writer is not a confectioner, a cosmetic dealer, or an entertainer. — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“All my friends and relatives have always taken a condescending tone to my writing, and never ceased urging me in a friendly… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
It is the writer's business not to accuse and not to prosecute, but to champion the guilty, once they are condemned and… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
The time has come for writers, especially those who are artists, to admit that in this world one cannot make anything out,… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“Using vile means to attain worthy ends makes the ends themselves vile. Let them ride on the backs of doctors and medical assistants, but… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
There are still many more days of failure ahead, whole seasons of failure, things will go terribly wrong, you will have huge disappointments ,… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“But here was all the timorousness and angularity of inexperienced youth, a feeling of awkwardness, and an impression of bewilderment, as if someone had… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“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,… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
Anna Petrovna: Never talk to women about your own good qualities. Let them find out for themselves. — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
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… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“Lebedev: France has a clear and defined policy... The French know what they want. They just want to wipe out the Krauts, finish, but… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“My holy of holies are the human body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love, and the most absolute freedom - freedom from force and falsity,… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
“What we have, we do not treasure,” and what’s more we do not even love it.” — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
No matter how corrupt and unjust a convict may be, he loves fairness more than anything else. If the people placed over him are… — Anton Chekhov Copy Share Image
