“But listen,” if you don’t go with me, you are in danger of losing me. I believe I am… in love already.”

“With whom?’ asked Andrey Ilyitch.

“It can’t make any difference to you who it is!” cried Sofya Petrovna.

Andrey Ilyitch sat up with his feet out of bed and looked wondering at his wife’s dark figure.

“It is a fancy!” he yawned.

He did not believe her, but yet he was frightened. After thinking a little and asking his wife several questions, he delivered himself of his opinions on the family, on infidelity… spoke listlessly for about ten minutes and got into bed again. His moralizing produced no effect. There are a great many opinions in the world, and a good half of them are held by people who have never been in trouble.

From “The Chekhov Collection: A 199 Story Anthology,” by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

One should read Chekhov like the Bible, one story at the time before going to bed.  It is the most fabulous book of short stories ever written. Throughout our lives, we all meet quite a few Andrey Ilyitches, people who hide their heads in the sand, avoid confronting reality, and issue opinions as if addressing everyone from a pulpit. They never get in trouble or succeed in anything. Chekhov describes them: “There are a great many opinions in the world, and a good half of them are held by people who have never been in trouble.”