Sometimes we go to a play and after the curtain has been up five minutes we have a sense of being able to settle back in the arms of the playwright. Instinctively we know that the playwright knows his business.
Anton ChekhovFor God's sake, have some self-respect and do not run off at the mouth if your brain is out to lunch.
Anton ChekhovTo believe in God is not hard. Inquisitors, Byron and Arakcheev believed in Him. No, believe in man!
Anton ChekhovAnd only now, when he was gray-haired, had he fallen in love properly, thoroughly, for the first time in his life.
Anton ChekhovThis man, who for twenty-five years has been reading and writing about art, and in all that time has never understood anything about art, has for twenty-five years been hashing over other people's ideas about realism, naturalism and all that nonsense; for twenty-five years he has been reading and writing about what intelligent people already know and about what stupid people don't want to know--which means that for twenty-five years he's been taking nothing and making nothing out of it. And with it all, what conceit! What pretension!
Anton ChekhovIn displaying the psychology of your characters, minute particulars are essential. God save us from vague generalizations! Be sure not to discuss your hero's state of mind. Make it clear from his actions. Nor is it necessary to portray many main characters. Let two people be the center of gravity in your story: he and she.
Anton Chekhov