“In my opinion it is harmful to place important things in the hands of philanthropy, which in Russia is marked by a chance character. Nor should important matters depend on leftovers, which are never there. I would prefer that the government treasury take care of it.”
Letter to A.S. Suvorin (December 17, 1890)
Letters
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Anton Chekhov 222
Russian dramatist, author and physician 1860–1904Related quotes

“Whether a matter is great or small, its importance and weight depend on whose hands it is in.”
Character, of Witness Lee - By Living Stream Ministry, ISBN 978-0-87083-322-9

“It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important.”
Denn zu einem großen Manne gehört beides: Kleinigkeiten als Kleinigkeiten, und wichtige Dinge als wichtige Dinge zu behandeln.
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Hamburgische Dramaturgie (1767 - 1769), Vierunddreißigstes Stück Den 25. August 1767 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10055/10055-8.txt
Misattributed

“It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important.”
Denn zu einem großen Manne gehört beides: Kleinigkeiten als Kleinigkeiten, und wichtige Dinge als wichtige Dinge zu behandeln.
Hamburgische Dramaturgie http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10055/10055-8.txt (1767 - 1769), Vierunddreißigstes Stück Den 25. August 1767

Remarks at the Unidad Independencia Housing Project, City of Mexico (269)" (30 June 1962) http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations.aspx
1962

Speech, (28 March 1923), Seanad Éireann (Irish Free Senate), on the Damage to Property (Compensation) Bill http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0001/S.0001.192303280011.html