Authors / Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov quotes

1860–1904 · Russian playwright and short-story writer

Chekhov was a doctor who wrote on the side and changed both the short story and the theatre. Writing advice credited to him is often a modern summary.

2 real · 1 not theirs

Really theirs

2 quotes traced to Anton Chekhov's own work or a reliable witness.

Sourced

Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress.

Source: Letter to Alexei Suvorin (11 September 1888)

Attributed

If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired.

Source: Recalled by Ilia Gurlyand (1904)

Not theirs

1 famous lines credited to Anton Chekhov that are misquoted, unsourced or belong to someone else.

Misquoted

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.

The real words: A modern condensation of advice in an 1886 letter to his brother Alexander about describing a moonlit night.