Anton Chekhov on writing

Lying is the same as alcoholism. Liars prevaricate even on their deathbeds.

A man who doesn’t drink is not, in my opinion, fully a man.

When an actor has money, he doesn’t send letters but telegrams.

To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say and to finish without knowing what you have written.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau1712–1778

• Love

Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

C. S. Lewis1898–1963

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

Benjamin Franklin1706–1790

• Reading