If you are afraid of loneliness, don't marry.

The line treats marriage not as a remedy for solitude but as a commitment that demands emotional self-sufficiency. Chekhov’s point is that if one marries chiefly to escape loneliness, the relationship is built on need rather than choice, and the fear of being alone will distort expectations of a spouse. The aphorism also implies that loneliness is not automatically cured by companionship: marriage can contain its own forms of isolation, and partners cannot be tasked with filling every inner void. Read this way, the quote is a warning against using marriage as an antidote to existential discomfort, urging maturity and independence as prerequisites for intimacy.