... Dear, honored bookcase, I salute thy existence, which for over one hundred years has served the glorious ideals of goodness and justice; thy silent appeal to fruitful endeavor, unflagging in the course of a hundred years, tearfully sustaining through generations of our family, courage and faith in a better future, and fostering in us ideals of goodness and social consciousness. ...
GAYEV - The Cherry Orchard, Act I
TROFIMOV : ... Mankind is advancing toward the highest truth, the highest happiness attainable on earth, and I am in the front ranks!
LOPAKHIN : Will you get there?
TROFIMOV : I'll get there. [ Pause ] I'll either get there or I'll show others the way to get there.
Anton Chekhov, The Major Plays
Translated by Ann Dunnigan
Signet Classic, First Printing May 1964
Signet & Mentor Books 1948, "Good Reading for the Millions"
