Chekhov will seek out the key situation in the life of a cabman or a charwoman, and make them glow for a brief moment in the tender light of his sympathy.

A cat is only technically an animal, being divine.

We cannot get happiness by striving after it, and yet with an effort we can impart it.

The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.

When people complain of the decay of manners they have in mind not the impudent abbreviations of the crowd, but the decline in bowing and scraping and in speaking of one's employer as "the master." What the rich mean by the good manners of the poor is usually not civility, but servility.

There are travelers who fear to own delicate hands more than to meet a lion, and soldiers who would rather lose a limb than gain a beautiful nose by artificial methods.

The days on which one has been the most inquisitive are among the days on which one has been happiest.