The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

When a lot of remedies are suggested for a disease, that means it can’t be cured.
‘The Cherry Orchard’ (1904) act 2
Great God in Heaven, the Cherry Orchard is now mine...I’ve bought the estate where my father
and grandfather were slaves, where they weren’t even allowed inside the kitchen. I must be
dreaming, I must be imagining it all.
‘The Cherry Orchard’ (1904) act 3
Medvedenko: Why do you wear black all the time?
Masha: I’m in mourning for my life, I’m unhappy.
‘The Seagull’ (1896) act 1
Nina: Your play’s hard to act, there are no living people in it.
Treplev: Living people! We should show life neither as it is nor as it ought to be, but as we see
it in our dreams.
‘The Seagull’ (1896) act 1
Women can’t forgive failure.
‘The Seagull’ (1896) act 2
Nina: I’m a seagull. No, that’s wrong. Remember you shot a seagull? A man happened to
come along, saw it and killed it, just to pass the time. A plot for a short story.
‘The Seagull’ (1896) act 4
People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy. If I lived in Moscow I
don’t think I’d care what the weather was like.
‘The Three Sisters’ (1901) act 2
Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he’s
been given. But up to now he hasn’t been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep disappearing,
rivers dry up, wild life’s become extinct, the climate’s ruined and the land grows poorer and
uglier every day.
‘Uncle Vanya’ (1897) act 1
A woman can become a man’s friend only in the following stages—first an acquaintance, next
a mistress, and only then a friend.
‘Uncle Vanya’ (1897) act 2
When a woman isn’t beautiful, people always say, ‘You have lovely eyes, you have lovely
hair.’
‘Uncle Vanya’ (1897) act 3
In Anna Karenina and Onegin not a single problem is solved, but they satisfy you completely
just because all their problems are correctly presented. The court is obliged to submit the case
fairly, but let the jury do the deciding, each according to its own judgement.
Letter to Alexei Suvorin, 27 October 1888, in L. Hellman (ed.) ‘Selected Letters of Anton Chekhov’ (1955,
translated by S. Lederer)
It is necessary that on the stage everything should be as complex and simple as life. People are
having dinner, and while they’re having it, their future happiness may be decided or their lives
may be about to be shattered.