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.

It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf.

Most human beings are quite likable if you don't see too much of them.

We forget that Socrates was famed for wisdom not because he was omniscient but because he realized at the age of seventy that he still knew nothing.

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.

It may be that all games are silly. But then, so are humans.

No man is uninteresting when his hat is blown off and he has to scuttle after it down the street.

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.

A boy in love is not mainly a calf but a poet.

Mystery lies over the sea. Every ship is bound for Thule.

You love someone. You don’t leave her to drown. And you don’t tell her she’s crazier than she already knows that she is!

Becoming an adult means leaving the world of your parents and starting to make your way toward the future that you will share with your peers.

The more control you have over your life, the more responsible you feel for your own success - or failure.

One way or another we all work for our vice.

Things are forgotten so fast today. Even if 1,000 people are slaughtered, the next day you forget. There has to be new news every day.

I can't see for the life of me how an attempt to understand the universe, which I believe comes from God, can alienate us from God.

That is true culture which helps us to work for the social betterment of all.

He who distributes the milk of human kindness cannot help but spill a little on himself.

I'm a great believer in what happens on the field should stay there.

You don't fear me," he said now. She wasn't stupid enough to lie. "I'm petrified. But I figure you didn't make me come all this way just so you could push me off the roof.