How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)
Quote #1
Olga: It's a year ago today that Father died, May fifth, on your birthday, Irina… (The clock strikes noon.) And the clock struck that morning just the same way. (1.1)
This first line of the play—with the prominent symbol of the clock—establishes the passage of time as a major force in The Three Sisters. And we can see some pretty deep nostalgia right off the bat, too: they're starting by talking about their father dying, so clearly there have been some unsatisfactory changes in this past year.
Quote #2
Olga: Father got his command eleven years ago, and we left Moscow and came here. It was the beginning of May then too… (1.3)
There's always a timekeeper in the family, one who remembers exactly when everything of importance happened. Thanks a bunch, Olga.
Quote #3
Masha: You didn't have a mustache then…Oh, you've gotten old… (Almost in tears) You've gotten so old! (1.87)
Masha is momentarily unnerved by how much time has changed Vershinin. But after hearing him talk for a while, she finds new depths of attraction.
Quote #4
Masha: It's funny: I'm beginning to forget what she looked like. The same thing will happen to us. No one will remember us. (1.105)
Masha is talking about her dead mother and suddenly realizes the meaninglessness of her existence.
Quote #5
Tuzenbach: You're twenty years old, I'm not thirty yet. Think how much time we've got ahead of us, days and days, all of them full of my love for you. (1.183)
Tuzenbach is characteristically optimistic in his view of time. To him, time is something to be valued and enjoyed, not rued for passing too quickly. As far as this play goes, he's pretty much alone in this optimistic view.
Quote #6
Vershinin: The longer I live, the more I want to know. My hair is turning gray, I'm almost an old man, and I know so little—so little! (2.78)
Vershinin's acknowledgement of his own ignorance—even at his advanced age—is the opposite of Kulygin's Latin-fringed bragging.
Quote #7
Vershinin: Still, it's too bad youth doesn't last…
Not always the soul of philosophical brilliance Masha takes him to be, Vershinin states the obvious.
Quote #8
Masha: You're sixty years old, and all you do is talk a lot of goddamn nonsense, just like some kid! (2.129)
Chebutykin is a petrified old bachelor, an example of someone who has made decisions to please only himself. He doesn't end up much happier than the others.
Quote #9
Olga: I think I've aged ten years tonight. (3.31)
Olga often associates thoughts of aging with the stressors in her life: her students, her family, the fire.
Quote #10
Irina: I'm almost twenty-four, I've been working all this time, and my brain has shriveled up; I've lost my looks, I've gotten old, and nothing, nothing!…I don't understand why I'm still alive. I should have killed myself long ago. (3.99)
OK, so Irina's being a little dramatic. But time really has slipped through her fingers since her hopeful, excited entrance at the top of Act I. Frowny face.