Anton Chekhov Quotes
I was so drunk the whole time that I took bottles for girls and girls for bottles.
Chekhov, Anton. The Letters of Anton Chekhov. Edited by Avrahm Yarmolinsky, Viking Press, 1973, p. 38.
Ale has too often been praised by poets
The longer you drink the less sense your mind makes of things
Modern research has shown that the earliest deleterious effect of alcohol is impaired judgment and perception. It is fascinating that in this important set of advice from the chief God Odin, this was the problem that was focussed upon.
The distinction between recreational drinking and heavy drinking is a subtle one and rarely made until modern times. Most leaders who would not have heavy drinkers in positions of responsibility were usually themselves teetotalers and they were very rare. Heavy drinkers and alcoholics have been in positions of responsibility throughout history including modern times—eg House Ways & Means Chairman Wilbur Mills and Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Peter was unusual in that he made the distinction.
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."
