"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."
"Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living
that wears you out."
"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint
of light on broken glass."
"Faith is an aptitude of the spirit. It is, in fact, a
talent: you must be born with it."
"How unbearable at times are people who are happy, people
for whom everything works out."
"If you cry 'forward', you must without fail make plain
in what direction to go."
"It's easier to write about Socrates than about a young
woman or a cook."
"Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice."
"Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the
trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit."
"Life does not agree with philosophy: There is no happiness
that is not idleness, and only what is useless is pleasurable."
"Love, friendship and respect do not unite people as much
as a common hatred for something."
"Man is what he believes."
"No psychologist should pretend to understand what he
does not understand... Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand
nothing."
"One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures
without making a mistake."
"People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when
they're happy."
"People who lead a lonely existence always have something
on their minds that they are eager to talk about."
"Reason and justice tell me there's more love for humanity
in electricity and steam than in chastity and vegetarianism."
"The more refined one is, the more unhappy."
"The only difference between doctors and lawyers is that
lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you, too."
"The sea has neither meaning nor pity."
"The thirst for powerful sensations takes the upper hand
both over fear and over compassion for the grief of others."
"The University brings out all abilities, including incapability."
"The wealthy are always surrounded by hangers-on; science
and art are as well."
"The world perishes not from bandits and fires, but from
hatred, hostility, and all these petty squabbles."
"There is nothing new in art except talent."
"To advise is not to compel."
"To judge between good or bad, between successful and
unsuccessful would take the eye of a God."
"When you're thirsty and it seems that you could drink
the entire ocean that's faith; when you start to drink and finish only
a glass or two that's science."
"You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible."
Written by Anton Chekhov
