“To harbor spiteful feelings against ordinary people for not being heroes is possible only for narrow-minded or embittered man.”

“Be sure not to discuss your hero's state of mind. Make it clear from his actions."(Letter to Alexander Chekhov, May 10, 1886)”

“The happy man only feels at ease because the unhappy bear their burden in silence. Without this silence, happiness would be impossible.”

“The unhappy are egoistic, spiteful, unjust, cruel, and less capable of understanding each other than fools. Unhappiness does not bring people together but draws them apart, and even where one would fancy people should be united by the similarity of their sorrow, far more injustice and cruelty is generated than in comparatively placid surroundings.”

“Ivanov: You only qualified last year, my dear friend, you're still young and confident, but I am thirty-five. I have the right to give you some advice. Don't marry a Jew or a psychopath or a bluestocking but choose yourself someone ordinary, someone a shade of grey, with no bright colour and no superfluous noises. In general, construct your whole life on a conventional pattern. The greyer, the more monotonous the background, the better. My dear fellow, don't do battle against thousands all on your own, don't tilt against windmills, don't beat your head against walls... And may God preserve you from all kinds of rational farming, newfangled schools, fiery speeches... Shut yourself in your shell and do your little God-given business... It's snugger, healthier and more honest.”

“A woman can become a man's friend only in the following stages - first an acquantaince, next a mistress, and only then a friend.”

“Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows a person who he should be.”