Anton Chekhov Quotes
He had two lives: one, open, seen and known by all who cared to know, full of relative truth and of relative falsehood, exactly like the lives of his friends and acquaintances; and another life running its course in secret. And through some strange, perhaps accidental, conjunction of circumstances, everything that was essential, of interest and of value to him, everything in which he was sincere and did not deceive himself, everything that made the kernel of his life, was hidden from other people.
Chekhov, Anton. The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories. Translated by Constance Garnett, Macmillan, 1917, p. 25.
This famous quotation illustrates the perfect political reply to a personal attack. In one short sentence, Lincoln denied the charge, obtained the sympathy of the audience, demonstrated that he was not stuck-up, entertained the crowd, and gave everyone there a story to tell about him afterward—the perfect oratorical response.
Referring to his opponent in the 1926 New York gubernatorial race, incumbent Governor Al Smith:
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress."
