If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.
Anton ChekhovRead
Why are we worn out? Why do we, who start out so passionate, brave, noble, believing, become totally bankrupt by the age of thirty or thirty-five? Why is it that one is extinguished by consumption, another puts a bullet in his head, a third seeks oblivion in vodka, cards, a fourth, in order to stifle fear and anguish, cynically tramples underfoot the portrait of his pure, beautiful youth? Why is it that, once fallen, we do not try to rise, and, having lost one thing, we do not seek another? Why?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the disillusionment and loss of passion that individuals experience as they transition into adulthood.
Anton Chekhov's quote questions the reasons behind the disillusionment that many feel as they reach their thirties. It points to the existential crises that arise from lost dreams and aspirations, exploring the tragic consequences of a life where youthful zeal is extinguished by the harsh realities of adult life. Chekhov urges us to reflect on why, rather than seeking renewal and recovery, people often succumb to despair and cynicism, ultimately losing touch with their once-innocent hopes and desires.
Themes
DisillusionmentYouthPassionAdult LifeExistential Crisis
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the challenges young professionals face, one might reference this quote to illustrate the passion that often wanes over time.
More from Anton Chekhov
All quotes βThere are still many more days of failure ahead, whole seasons of failure, things will go terribly wrong, you will have huge disappointments , but you have to prepare for that, you have to expect it and be resolute and follow your own path.
Anton ChekhovRead
Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
Anton ChekhovRead
To a chemist, nothing on earth is unclean. A writer must be as objective as a chemist; he must abandon the subjective line; he must know that dungheaps play a very respectable part in a landscape, and that evil passions are as inherent in life as good ones.
Anton ChekhovRead
When you want to touch the reader's heart, try to be colder. It gives their grief as it were, a background, against which it stands out in greater relief.
Anton ChekhovRead
Money, like vodka, turns a person into an eccentric.
Anton ChekhovRead
Similar quotes
The reflection, the verisimilitude, of life that shines in the fleshly cells from the soul source is the only cause of man's attachment to his body; obviously he would not pay solicitous homage to a clod of clay. A human being falsely identifies himself with his physical form because the life currents from the soul are breath-conveyed into the flesh with such intense power that man mistakes the effect for a cause, and idolatrously imagines the body to have life of its own.
Paramahansa YoganandaRead
Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.
AristotleRead
There's a belonging problem in Hollywood. Who dictates who belongs? The very body who dictates that looks all one way.
Ava DuvernayRead
The error is in the assumption that the General Government is a party to the constitutional compact. The States ... formed the compact, acting as sovereign and independent communities.
John C. CalhounRead
Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.
Thomas AquinasRead
Be not too presumptuously sure in any business; for things of this world depend on such a train of unseen chances that if it were in man's hands to set the tables, still he would not be certain to win the game.
George HerbertRead