The Seagull Quotes

The Seagull (also entitled The Sea-Gull, or The Sea Gull) is one of the significant plays by Anton Chekhov. The work is a tragi-comedy, which is existential in tone. Time plays an important role in this play, as mis-directed love helps to bring misery to the characters. Here are a few quotes from the play.

• "I'm the seagull. No, that's not it. I'm an actress. That's it."
  - Anton Chekhov, The Seagull
  
  
• "I'm in mourning for my life."
  - Anton Chekhov, The Seagull
  
  
• "Idea for a short story. The shore of a lake, a young girl who's spent her whole life beside it, a girl like you She loves the lake the way a seagull does, and she's happy and free as a seagull. Then a man comes along, sees her, and ruins her life because he has nothing better to do. Destroys her like this seagull here."
  - Anton Chekhov, The Seagull
  
  
• "Here I am talking to you, I'm all worked up, and still I can't forget for a minute that I've got a story to finish. I see a cloud, like that one, shaped like a piano. I smell the heliotrope, I make a mental note: a sickly-sweet smell, a widow's color, use it to describe a summer's evening."
  - Anton Chekhov, The Seagull
  
  
• "People's destinies are so different. Some people drag along, unnoticed and boring—they're all alike, and they're all unhappy. Then there are others, like for instance you—you're one in a million. You're happy—"
  - Anton Chekhov, The Seagull
  
  
• "You're sixty years old. Medicine won't help."
  - Anton Chekhov, The Seagull