Thread: A Chekhov quote

Hello everyone! My name is Tamara. I was wondering if anyone knew where the following Chekhov quote is from, and whether they knew it in Russian. It has been a great inspiration to me. Thank you!

"Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit."- A. Chekhov

Some time ago there was a thread about a "famous" quote by Dostoevsky and even Russian experts and funs were hardly to identify what native English speakers were thought to be the Dostoevsky's quote. This is why your question attracts a lot of my attention. I am not an expert of Chekhov and I've just made some web surfing about this quote.

First: I've not found any traces of such a quote in Russian. I believe that if the quote is really by Chekhov it's original version should be in Russian. I've used many different possibilities to translate the quote in Russian but haven't found anything close to it.

Second: I've searched for this quote in English and found that this quote is really attributed to Chekhov but never the source of the quote is mentioned.

Third: Surprisingly I've found that the quote is also attributed to Peter Sellers an actor who played the The Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the movie "Pink Panther" of 1963. But also there are no any reference to the source of the quote.

Fourth: This quote is mostly mentioned within the pages containing the specific list of "magic" quotes which should make the person who followed the quotes to be successful.

Originally Posted by CoffeeCup

First: I've not found any traces of such a quote in Russian.

Вот здесь http://www.businessguideusa.com/Oct02.07.htmесть упоминание о Чехове:

Как когда-то сказал великий русский писатель Антон Чехов “давайте учиться ценить время когда деревья без плодов и листьев, потому что надо смотреть вперед во время, когда мы сможем снять плоды”.

Originally Posted by BappaBa

Originally Posted by CoffeeCup

First: I've not found any traces of such a quote in Russian.

Вот здесь http://www.businessguideusa.com/Oct02.07.htmесть упоминание о Чехове:

Как когда-то сказал великий русский писатель Антон Чехов “давайте учиться ценить время когда деревья без плодов и листьев, потому что надо смотреть вперед во время, когда мы сможем снять плоды”.

Yeah, I found this one too. But this text is translation from English.

Originally Posted by CoffeeCup

Third: Surprisingly I've found that the quote is also attributed to Peter Sellers an actor who played the The Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the movie "Pink Panther" of 1963. But also there are no any reference to the source of the quote.

Ah! I think it should be from movie "Being there". It was about imbecile gardener.

Originally Posted by it-ogo

h! I think it should be from movie "Being there". It was about imbecile gardener.

Yes! You've got it!

Here is an excerpt from the "Being There" subtitles from the http://www.opensubtitles.org site. The screenplay is by Jerzy Kosinski

Originally Posted by Being There

01:08:22,767 --> 01:08:25,701
As in a garden of the earth,
let us learn to accept...

01:08:25,806 --> 01:08:28,326
...and appreciate the times
when the trees are bare...

01:08:28,942 --> 01:08:31,527
...as well as the times
when we pick the fruit.

To be honest, this "quote" doesn't sound to me like it could be said by Checkov... That doesn't sound like his philosophy.

Originally Posted by CoffeeCup

Some time ago there was a thread about a "famous" quote by Dostoevsky and even Russian experts and funs were hardly to identify what native English speakers were thought to be the Dostoevsky's quote. This is why your question attracts a lot of my attention. I am not an expert of Chekhov and I've just made some web surfing about this quote.

I remember that thread very well and ya know, it makes me wonders... how many "famous Russian" or other "famous" quotes from the foreign dead poets society "we" Americans have tattooed on our bodies? I am not knocking that these are nice sayings or anything, just I think it is kind of funny and wonder if it happens in reverse?

Do Russians have famous "American" sayings that really aren't from famous American writers? Or because... umm ...you Russian have such amazing native writers you don't need our American ones?!

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Do Russians have famous "American" sayings that really aren't from famous American writers? Or because... umm ...you Russian have such amazing native writers you don't need our American ones?!

You know, here, in xUSSR we have big problems with copyright piracy: often if someone really likes a sentence he takes it and use without any reference...

Do Russians have famous "American" sayings that really aren't from famous American writers? Or because... umm ...you Russian have such amazing native writers you don't need our American ones?! [/quote]


Ну почему же есть и интересные американские писатели. Я с удовольствием читаю Азимова, Твена, Лондона, По
Well why there are also interesting American writers. I with pleasure read Azimov, Twain, London, Po