Anton Chekhov

“ ANDREY. [Imploring] Please, please! I ask you!
TUZENBACH. When are the entertainers coming?
IRINA. They promised for about nine; that is, quite soon.
TUZENBACH. [Embraces ANDREY]
"Oh my house, my house, my new-built house." ANDREY. [Dances and sings]
"Newly-built of maple-wood." CHEBUTIKIN. [Dances]
"Its walls are like a sieve!" [Laughter.] TUZENBACH. [Kisses ANDREY] Hang it all, let's drink. Andrey, old boy, let's drink with you. And I'll go with you, Andrey, to the University of Moscow.
SOLENI. Which one? There are two universities in Moscow.
ANDREY. There's one university in Moscow. ”

“ ANDREY. Don't care if there are three. So much the better.
SOLENI. There are two universities in Moscow! [There are murmurs and "hushes"] There are two universities in Moscow, the old one and the new one. And if you don't like to listen, if my words annoy you, then I need not speak. I can even go into another room. ... [Exit.]
TUZENBACH. Bravo, bravo! [Laughs] Come on, now. I'm going to play. Funny man, Soleni. ... [Goes to the piano and plays a waltz.]
MASHA. [Dancing solo] The Baron's drunk, the Baron's drunk, the Baron's drunk!
[NATASHA comes in.] ”

“ MASHA. It seems to me that a man must have faith, or must search for a faith, or his life will be empty, empty. ... To live and not to know why the cranes fly, why babies are born, why there are stars in the sky. ”

“ IRINA. [Not understanding] Where?
[The bells of a troika are heard as it drives up to the house.]
NATASHA. You and Olga can share a room, for the time being, and Bobby can have yours. He's such a darling; to-day I said to him, "Bobby, you're mine! Mine!" And he looked at me with his dear little eyes. [A bell rings] It must be Olga. How late she is! [The maid enters and whispers to NATASHA] Protopopov? What a queer man to do such a thing. Protopopov's come and wants me to go for a drive with him in his troika. [Laughs] How funny these men are. ... [A bell rings] Somebody has come. ”

“ IRINA. But, really, the entertainers?
ANDREY. [In confusion] There won't be any entertainers. You see, dear, Natasha says that Bobby isn't quite well, and so. ... In a word, I don't care, and it's absolutely all one to me.
IRINA. [Shrugging her shoulders] Bobby ill!
MASHA. What is she thinking of! Well, if they are sent home, I suppose they must go. [To IRINA] Bobby's all right, it's she herself. ... Here! [Taps her forehead] Little bourgeoise!
[ANDREY goes to his room through the right-hand door, CHEBUTIKIN follows him. In the dining-room they are saying good-bye.] ”

“ I don't like civilians.
TUZENBACH. Never mind. ... [Gets up] I'm not handsome; what use am I as a soldier? Well, it makes no difference ... I shall work. If only just once in my life I could work so that I could come home in the evening, fall exhausted on my bed, and go to sleep at once. [Going into the dining-room] Workmen, I suppose, do sleep soundly!
FEDOTIK. [To IRINA] I bought some coloured pencils for you at Pizhikov's in the Moscow Road, just now. And here is a little knife.
IRINA. You have got into the habit of behaving to me as if I am a little girl, but I am grown up. ”

“ Not only after two or three centuries, but in a million years, life will still be as it was; life does not change, it remains for ever, following its own laws which do not concern us, or which, at any rate, you will never find out. Migrant birds, cranes for example, fly and fly, and whatever thoughts, high or low, enter their heads, they will still fly and not know why or where. They fly and will continue to fly, whatever philosophers come to life among them; they may philosophize as much as they like, only they will fly. ”

“ But I think I know the things that matter most, and that are most real. I know them well. And I wish I could make you understand that there is no happiness for us, that there should not and cannot be. ... We must only work and work, and happiness is only for our distant posterity. [Pause] If not for me, then for the descendants of my descendants.
[FEDOTIK and RODE come into the dining-room; they sit and sing softly, strumming on a guitar.]
TUZENBACH. According to you, one should not even think about happiness! ”

“ OLGA. I've such a headache ... Andrey has been losing money. ... The whole town is talking. ... I'll go and lie down. [Going] I'm free to-morrow. ... Oh, my God, what a mercy! I'm free to-morrow, I'm free the day after. ... Oh my head, my head. ... [Exit.]
IRINA. [alone] They've all gone. Nobody's left.
[A concertina is being played in the street. The nurse sings.]
NATASHA. [in fur coat and cap, steps across the dining-room, followed by the maid] I'll be back in half an hour. I'm only going for a little drive. [Exit.]
IRINA. [Alone in her misery] To Moscow! Moscow! Moscow! ”

“ Bobby is so cold. I'm afraid his room is too cold for him. It would be nice to put him into another room till the warm weather comes. Irina's room, for instance, is just right for a child: it's dry and has the sun all day. I must tell her, she can share Olga's room. It isn't as if she was at home in the daytime, she only sleeps here. ... [A pause] Andrey, darling, why are you so silent?
ANDREY. I was just thinking. ... There is really nothing to say. ...
NATASHA. Yes ... there was something I wanted to tell you. ... Oh, yes. Ferapont has come from the Council offices, he wants to see you. ”

“ With what joy, what delight, he speaks of the birds he saw through the prison windows, which he had never noticed while he was a minister. Now, of course, that he is at liberty, he notices birds no more than he did before. When you go to live in Moscow you'll not notice it, in just the same way. There can be no happiness for us, it only exists in our wishes.
TUZENBACH. [Takes cardboard box from the table] Where are the pastries?
IRINA. Soleni has eaten them. ”

“ SOLENI. When I'm with one other man I behave just like everybody else, but in company I'm dull and shy and ... talk all manner of rubbish. But I'm more honest and more honourable than very, very many people. ”

“ When I came through the dining-room yesterday midnight, there was a candle burning. I couldn't get her to tell me who had lighted it. [Puts down her candle] What's the time?
ANDREY. [Looks at his watch] A quarter past eight.
NATASHA. And Olga and Irina aren't in yet. The poor things are still at work. Olga at the teacher's council, Irina at the telegraph office. ... [Sighs] I said to your sister this morning, "Irina, darling, you must take care of yourself." But she pays no attention. Did you say it was a quarter past eight? I am afraid little Bobby is quite ill. Why is he so cold? ”

“ After father's death, for instance, it took us a long time to get used to the absence of orderlies. But, apart from habit, it seems to me in all fairness that, however it may be in other towns, the best and most-educated people are army men. ”

“ Labour without poetry, without ideas. ... [A knock on the floor] The doctor is knocking. [To TUZENBACH] Will you knock, dear. I can't ... I'm tired. ... [TUZENBACH knocks] He'll come in a minute. Something ought to be done. Yesterday the doctor and Andrey played cards at the club and lost money. Andrey seems to have lost 200 roubles.
MASHA. [With indifference] What can we do now?
IRINA. He lost money a fortnight ago, he lost money in December. Perhaps if he lost everything we should go away from this town. Oh, my God, I dream of Moscow every night. I'm just like a lunatic. ”