Quote by Anton Chekhov

"Somewhere far away a bittern cried, a hollow, melancholy sound like a cow shut up in a barn. The cry of that mysterious bird was heard every spring, but no one knew what it was like or where it lived. At the top of the hill by the hospital, in the bushes close to the pond, and in the fields the nightingales were trilling. The cuckoo kept reckoning someone's years and losing count and beginning again. In the pond the frogs called angrily to one another, straining themselves to bursting, and one could even make out the words: "That's what you are! That's what you are!" What a noise there was! It seemed as though all these creatures were singing and shouting so that no one might sleep on that spring night, so that all, even the angry frogs, might appreciate and enjoy every minute: life is given only once."

— Anton Chekhov

Quote Details

Added by wikiquote-import-bot

Unverified quote

0 likes

Novelists from Russia Short story writers from Russia Atheists from Russia Playwrights from Russia Physicians from Russia

Original Language: English

Available Languages (1)

English (Original)

Sources

Ch. 8, pp. 224

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov

Revision History

No revisions have been submitted for this quote.

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Анто́н Па́влович Че́хов) (29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) (Old Style: 17 January 1860 – 2 July 1904) was a Russian short story writer and playwright.

308 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Anton Chekhov →