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
No psychologist should pretend to understand what he does not understand... Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand nothing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of humility and the limits of knowledge, particularly in the field of psychology.
In this quote, Anton Chekhov critiques those who claim to possess complete understanding or knowledge, particularly in fields where complexities abound such as psychology. He warns that true wisdom lies in recognizing one's limitations and the depth of human behavior, as opposed to the arrogance exhibited by those who falsely assert they know everything, likening them to fools and charlatans.
Themes
KnowledgeHumilityUnderstandingPsychologyWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a psychology class to prompt discussions about the importance of acknowledging limitations in understanding human behavior.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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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