كثيراً ما أتساءل: لو أتيح لنا أن نبدأ الحياة من جديد، وقد عرفنا ما كنا نفعله؟ لو استطعنا أن نتخذ حياةً انتهت مسودةً أولى لأخرى؟ أظن أن كلاً منّا سيحرص، قبل كل شيء، على ألّا يكرر نفسه؛ وعلى الأقل سيعيد ترتيب نمط حياته، فيحرص على غرف كهذه، بها زهور ونور... لي زوجة وابنتان، وصحة زوجتي هشّة، وما إلى ذلك، ولو اضطررت أن أبدأ الحياة من جديد لما تزوجت. ... لا، لا!

“I often wonder: suppose we could begin life over again, knowing what we were doing? Suppose we could use one life, already ended, as a sort of rough draft for another? I think that every one of us would try, more than anything else, not to repeat himself, at the very least he would rearrange his manner of life, he would make sure of rooms like these, with flowers and light ... I have a wife and two daughters, my wife's health is delicate and so on and so on, and if I had to begin life all over again I would not marry. ... No, no!”Anton Chekhov — The Three Sisters (2012)