Anton Chekhov

"It is difficult to say why. Perhaps I haven't yet learned wisdom."

"Music is the language of the heart."

"We die, but there is music."

"The masses of creatures are bound to be shaped by suffering."

"There is one command I cannot obey, and that is to be happy on command."

"The world treats us roughly and we learn to treat it less sentimentally as a consequence."

"Every moment of one's existence one is growing into more or moving away from one's humanity."

"It is impossible to conceive of the universe without a cause."

"Contentment comes with an understanding of what is eternal."

"Art is something immeasurable and not to be comprehended by the mere reason."

"There is in human nature a tendency to blame somebody else for the situation that one finds oneself in."

"How does an educated man behave? In conversation, he doesn't discuss trifles with triflers."

"It's absurd to point to the evolution of ideas as evidence against God."

"Only those who recognize the complexity of truth will be effective in the world."

"The human soul is like a bird that becomes weaker when confined."

"Not to be passionate is to be alive just enough to work."

"The principal defect in my character is that I lack the capacity for disillusionment."

"To understand another person, you must suffer with them."

"Lies in the guise of truth bring disorder to the world."

"I'm inclined to think that the great achievements are generally the fruit of great perseverance."

"My soul is at peace, and I am content with my fate."

"When one is young, everything seems possible; when one is old, the whole truth is evident."

"To be capable of steady friendship or lasting love, are the two greatest proofs, not only of goodness of heart, but of strength of mind."

"We do not need to live by illusions to find life worth living."

"The degree of civilization in a society is revealed by entering its prisons."

"What an immense power over life is the power of producing some small change in things."

"The more highly organized the state, the more completely are its freedoms withdrawn from it by the bureaucracy."

"To be free, to accomplish one's own destiny is the object of all civilization."

"I cannot understand how anyone can live without pity."

"There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science."