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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote contrasts faith with science, highlighting the vastness of belief versus the limitations of empirical understanding.
Chekhov uses the metaphor of thirst and drinking to illustrate the difference between faith and science. Faith is likened to the overwhelming desire to quench an insatiable thirst, like wanting to drink the entire ocean, reflecting a boundless belief or hope. In contrast, science is represented by the pragmatic approach of drinking only a glass or two, indicating a more measured and limited understanding based on evidence and practical experience. This reflects the balance between belief and empirical observation in understanding the world.
Themes
FaithScienceBeliefUnderstandingKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of belief at a philosophy club.
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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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