If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.
Anton ChekhovRead
Oh, dreams! In one night, lying with one's eyes shut, one may sometimes live through more than ten years of happiness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Dreams can provide immense joy and fulfillment, often surpassing real-life experiences in depth.
In this quote, Chekhov highlights the profound power of dreams, suggesting that one can experience significant happiness and emotional richness in the realm of dreams, perhaps even more than in waking life. It reflects on how dreams can encapsulate lengthy periods of joy and fulfillment within a brief moment of sleep, inviting us to appreciate the depth of our inner experiences.
Themes
DreamsHappinessLifeExperienceFulfillment
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about the power of aspirations, one might quote this to emphasize the significance of dreams.
More from Anton Chekhov
All quotes βThere are still many more days of failure ahead, whole seasons of failure, things will go terribly wrong, you will have huge disappointments , but you have to prepare for that, you have to expect it and be resolute and follow your own path.
Anton ChekhovRead
Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
Anton ChekhovRead
To a chemist, nothing on earth is unclean. A writer must be as objective as a chemist; he must abandon the subjective line; he must know that dungheaps play a very respectable part in a landscape, and that evil passions are as inherent in life as good ones.
Anton ChekhovRead
When you want to touch the reader's heart, try to be colder. It gives their grief as it were, a background, against which it stands out in greater relief.
Anton ChekhovRead
Why are we worn out? Why do we, who start out so passionate, brave, noble, believing, become totally bankrupt by the age of thirty or thirty-five? Why is it that one is extinguished by consumption, another puts a bullet in his head, a third seeks oblivion in vodka, cards, a fourth, in order to stifle fear and anguish, cynically tramples underfoot the portrait of his pure, beautiful youth? Why is it that, once fallen, we do not try to rise, and, having lost one thing, we do not seek another? Why?
Anton ChekhovRead
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In order to be truly happy, you must live along with, and you must stand for something larger than yourself.
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Charles FrazierRead