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
How unbearable at times are people who are happy, people for whom everything works out.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the discomfort or envy one may feel towards those who are perpetually happy and have success come easily.
Anton Chekhov's quote highlights the complexity of human emotions in relation to happiness. While happiness is generally seen as a positive state, the discomfort it can inspire in others—particularly those who are struggling or enduring hardships—reveals deeper psychological truths about envy and the human condition. Chekhov suggests that the blissful state of others can be unbearable for those who do not share in that joy, showcasing the duality of happiness and the impact it has on relationships.
Themes
HappinessEnvyHuman ConditionPsychologyRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion about mental health, one might say this quote to highlight how happiness can affect interpersonal dynamics.
More from Anton Chekhov
All quotes →There 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.
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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.
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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
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?
Anton ChekhovRead
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