"Beware of exquisite language. The language should be simple and elegant."

Anton Chekhov Literature See all quotes by Anton Chekhov →

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More by Anton Chekhov

“The world is a fine place. The only thing wrong with it is us. How little justice and humility there is in us, how poorly we understand patriotism!”

“Despicable means used to achieve laudable goals render the goals themselves despicable.”

“Writers are as jealous as pigeons.”

“It’s worth living abroad to study up on genteel and delicate manners. The maid smiles continuously; she smiles like a duchess on a stage, while at the same time it is clear from her face that she is exhausted from overwork.”

“Moscow is a city that has much suffering ahead of it.”

“There are no lower or higher or median moralities. There is only one morality, and it is precisely the one that was given to us during the time of Jesus Christ and that stops me, you and Barantsevich from stealing, offending others, lying etc.”

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"The Spitfire and the Porsche and the battleship have something of perfection in their design. They are anonymous in their beauty, like the fleur-de-lys, and compelling, like heraldic ciphers of the 20…"

— Brian Clarke

Art1953–2025

#beauty

"One of my friends has these ideas about how we should meet men. "What we should do on Friday night is we will fucking go get fucked up and fuck yeah! We will fucking get fucked up and then we will fuc…"

— Margaret Cho

Entertainment1968

#freedom

"In Japan, even when you’re alone, you’re never really that lonely. But the loneliness you feel among people with differently colored skin and eyes, whose language you don’t even speak very well – that…"

— Ryu Murakami

Literature1952

#friendship

"If a symbolic language dies, it tortures us like a nightmare, like a thousand piece orchestra grating on our nerves and tearing our mind to pieces.. .It is a corpse with no symbolic power or strength."

— Asger Jorn

Art1914–1973

#power