“Anton Chekhov wrote that “one must not put a loaded rifle on stage if no one is thinking of firing it.” Good drama requires spare and purposive action, sensible linking of potential causes with realized effects. Life is much messier; nothing happens most of the time. Millions of Americans (many hotheaded) own rifles (many loaded), but the great majority, thank God, do not go off most of the time. We spend most of real life waiting for Godot, not charging once more unto the breach.”

— Stephen Jay Gould, book Dinosaur in a Haystack

"Speaking of Snails and Scales", p. 345
Dinosaur in a Haystack (1995)

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Stephen Jay Gould274

American evolutionary biologist 1941–2002

John Twelve Hawks book The Traveler

Source: Fourth Realm Trilogy (2005-2009), The Traveler (2005), Ch. 31

“It was very emotional, actually. In the front of the book I wrote something Anton Chekhov wrote to the woman he ended up spending the rest of his life with: "Hello, the last page of my life."”

Daniel Radcliffe (1989) English actor

Which I thought was very appropriate. <br class="br">On reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last book of the Harry Potter series, as quoted in "Daniel Radcliffe" by Chris Norris in Details (October 2008) http://men.style.com/details/blogs/thegadabout/2008/09/daniel-radcliff.html

“The Tippoo himself led the defenders north of the breach. The Tippoo had cursed Gudin for blowing the mines too early and thus wasting its terrible destructive power, but now he tried to revive the defense by his personal example. He stood in the front rank of his soldiers while behind him a succession of aides loaded jewel-encrusted hunting rifles. One by one the rifles were given to the Tippoo who aimed and fired, aimed and fired, and redcoat after redcoat was struck down.”

Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer

Narrator, p. 351
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Tiger (1997)

“There are of course many problems connected with life, of which some of the most popular are Why are people born? Why do they die? Why do they want to spend so much of the intervening time wearing digital watches?”

Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pentalogy

Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

“Sometimes the most intelligent thing is not to do anything, certainly nothing loaded with the imbecility of emotionality.”

William Saroyan (1908–1981) American writer

Source: Madness in the Family: Stories

“Most of us go through life as failures, because we are waiting for the "time to be right" to start doing something worthwhile. The time will never be "just right."”

Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich

Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
Think and Grow Rich (1938)