N. learned of his wife's adultery. He is indignant, distressed, but hesitates and keeps silent. He keeps silence and ends by borrowing money from Z., the lover, and continues to consider himself an honest man.
* * * * *
When I stop drinking tea and eating bread and butter, I say: 'I have had enough.' But when I stop reading poems or novels, I say: 'No more of that, no more of that.'
* * * * *
A solicitor lends money at a high rate of interest, and justifies himself because he is leaving everything to the University of Moscow.
* * * * *
A little sexton, with radical views: 'Nowadays our fellows crawl out from all sorts of unexpected holes.'
* * * * *
The squire N. always quarrels with his neighbors who are Molokans[1]; he goes to court, abuses and curses them; but when at last they leave, he feels there is an empty place; he ages rapidly and pines away.
[Footnote 1: Molokans are a religious sect in Russia.]
* * * * *
Mordukhanov.
* * * * *
With N. and his wife there lives the wife's brother, a lachrymose young man who at one time steals, at another tells lies, at another attempts suicide; N. and his wife do not know what to do, they are afraid to turn him out because he might kill himself; they would like to turn him out, but they do not know how to manage it. For forging a bill he gets into prison, and N. and his wife feel that they are to blame; they cry, grieve. She died from grief; he too died some time later and everything was left to the brother who squandered it and got into prison again.
* * * * *
Suppose I had to marry a woman and live in her house, I would run away in two days, but a woman gets used so quickly to her husband's house, as though she had been born there.
* * * * *
Well, you are a Councillor; but whom do you counsel? God forbid that any one should listen to your counsels.
* * * * *
The little town of Torjok. A sitting of the town council. Subject: the raising of the rates. Decision: to invite the Pope to settle down in Torjok—to choose it as his residence.
* * * * *
S.'s logic: I am for religious toleration, but against religious freedom; one cannot allow what is not in the strict sense orthodox.
* * * * *
St. Piony and Epinach. ii March, Pupli 13 m.
* * * * *
Poetry and works of art contain not what is needed but what people desire; they do not go further than the crowd and they express only what the best in the crowd desire.
* * * * *
A little man is very cautious; he sends even letters of congratulation by registered post in order to get a receipt.
* * * * *
Russia is an enormous plain across which wander mischievous men.
* * * * *
Platonida Ivanovna.
* * * * *
If you are politically sound, that is enough for you to be considered a perfectly satisfactory citizen; the same thing with radicals, to be politically unsound is enough, everything else will be ignored.
* * * * *
A man who when he fails opens his eyes wide.
* * * * *
Ziuzikov.
* * * * *
A Councillor of State, a respectable man; it suddenly comes out that he has secretly kept a brothel.
* * * * *
N. has written a good play; no one praises him or is pleased; they all say: 'We'll see what you write next.'
* * * * *
The more important people came in by the front door, the simple folk by the back door.
* * * * *
He: 'And in our town there lived a man whose name was Kishmish (raisin). He called himself Kishmish, but every one knew that he was Kishmish.'
She (after some thought): 'How annoying … if only his name had been
Sultana, but Kishmish!…'
* * * * *
Blagovospitanny.
* * * * *
Most honored Iv-Iv-itch!
* * * * *
How intolerable people are sometimes who are happy and successful in everything.
* * * * *
They begin gossiping that N. is living with Z.; little by little an atmosphere is created in which a liaison of N. and Z. becomes inevitable.
* * * * *
When the locust was a plague, I wrote against the locust and enchanted every one, I was rich and famous; but now, when the locust has long ago disappeared and is forgotten, I am merged in the crowd, forgotten, and not wanted.
* * * * *
Merrily, joyfully: 'I have the honor to introduce you to Iv. Iv.
Izgoyev, my wife's lover.'
* * * * *
Everywhere on the estate are notices: 'Trespassers will be prosecuted,' 'Keep off the flowers,' etc.
* * * * *
In the great house is a fine library which is talked about but is never used; they give you watery coffee which you cannot drink; the garden is tasteless with no flowers in it—and they pretend that all this is something Tolstoian.
* * * * *
He learnt Swedish in order to study Ibsen, spent a lot of time and trouble, and suddenly realized that Ibsen is not important; he could not conceive what use he could now make of the Swedish language.[1]
[Footnote 1: Ibsen wrote in Norwegian of course. Responding to a request for his interpretation of this curious paragraph. Mr. Koteliansky writes:
'Chekhov had a very high opinion of Ibsen; the paragraph, I am sure, is by no means aimed at Ibsen. Most probably the paragraph, as well as many others in the Notes, is something which C. either personally or indirectly
