Anton Chekhov

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited to what exists, but imagination opens possibility."

"The chief thing is to be brave—to be brave enough to face what you fear."

"Lack of hope is the only condition of true awakening."

"We learn not to love a woman because she is good, but sometimes she becomes good because we love her."

"The capacity to suffer is a prerequisite for understanding and hence for help."

"The task is noble; do not ask about the reward."

"We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds."

"Man will become better when you show him what he is like."

"Any idiot can face a crisis; it is this day-to-day living that wears you out."

"I feel more confident and more satisfied when I am engaged in my work."

"Tact is the ability to see others as they wish to be seen."

"If you want to work on your art, work on your life."

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass."

"The presence of trees calms the human soul."

"Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress."

"Ignorance and innocence are not by any means the same thing."

"When you expect nothing, everything becomes a gift."

"The great thing about this world is that we do not have to account to anybody."

"Talent alone cannot make a writer; there must be a man behind the book."

"Knowledge is of no value unless you have the courage to use it."

"We are dying from coughing but we don't stop—and that's the way we live our lives."

"It is impossible to live without knowing what you do not know about living."

"One must never lose time regretting who one is."

"Life is hard and confusing, and nobody's giving you an instruction manual."

"When a person hasn't food or drink, he can go on for a considerable time without them."

"Love, friendship, respect do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something."

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that very existence is an act of rebellion."

"There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know."

"If you are afraid of loneliness, don't marry."

"When actors are good, the playwright is forgotten."