Anton Chekhov

"We are not given a life but given a task to accomplish."

"Patience is a virtue which was never granted to the human being in abundance."

"Everything that seemed impossible eventually surrenders to persistance."

"I hate falsehood and I can't tolerate it."

"The heart loves what it loves, and we have no right to judge it."

"People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy."

"Talent is not some mysterious mark of favor bestowed by the gods."

"Science is secondary to life—art is at the heart of living."

"One should never establish a project that would take more than three years."

"If there is no God, then everything is permitted."

"Time is a luxury and like all luxuries, not everyone has access to it."

"I believe that everything that happens in life is incidental."

"Man is what he believes."

"Even if we accept that human life is meaningless, the answer lies not in suicide."

"To understand oneself is the greatest challenge."

"Doctors are just as fallible as other men."

"The feeling of the human soul is more mysterious than the universe."

"Imagination is what brings joy to all of human experience."

"Art should reflect life, not imitate it too closely."

"There is no national science and no national art; science and art are universal."

"I would love to be the kind of person who gets along with others effortlessly."

"The struggle itself is enough to fill one's heart."

"What is required is that we should love our life."

"Hypocrisy in anything whatever may deceive the cleverest and most acutest man."

"One should not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it."

"I have understood life; I know it is a cruel and bitter struggle."

"The purpose of fiction is not to explain or to instruct, but to picture human life."

"The law is a reflection of the customs of the people."

"Nothing is a miracle, everything in life is relative to everything else."

"Be careless in your dress if you must, but never in your work."