Quotations

"And still the brain continues to yearn, continues to burn, foolishly, with desire. My old man's brain is mocked by a body that still longs to stretch in the sun and form a beautiful shape in someone else's gaze, to lie under a blue sky and dream of helpless, selfless love, to behold itself, illuminated, in the golden light of another's eyes."

— Meg Rosoff, American writer, born 1956

"Women who stay true to themselves are always more interesting and beautiful to me: women like Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe and Anna Magnani - women who have style, chic, allure and elegance. They didn't submit to any standard of beauty - they defined it."

— Isabella Rossellini, Italian model, born 1952

"I always encourage women to let their individuality show by not covering up what they perceive as flaws. When I see a woman with the natural wrinkles of time on her face, I do not see the wrinkles at all, but when I see a woman trying to cover them up with too much foundation or concealer, all I see are her wrinkles."

— Isabella Rossellini, Italian model, born 1952

"I loved modeling. I absolutely loved it. I was so happy to get the cover of 'Vogue' - 23 times. I keep each copy. I made more money as a model than as an actress or as a filmmaker. In monetary terms, beauty pays more than anything."

— Isabella Rossellini, Italian model, born 1952

"I am not a pessimist; to perceive evil where it exists is, in my opinion, a form of optimism."

— Roberto Rossellini, Italian director, born 1906

"Choose love not in the shallows but in the deep."

— Christina Rossetti, English poet, born 1830

"Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun."

— Christina Rossetti, English poet, born 1830

"Places that are empty of you are empty of life."

— Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet, born 1828

"My mother carried me for 10 months. I asked her 'Mother, you had an extra month, why you didn't make me a beautiful face?' and mother told me, My son, I was busy making your beautiful hands and heart."

— Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist, born 1927

"In 1948 the first severe crash occurred in my life when Stalin put out his decree on 'formalism.' There was a bulletin board in the Moscow Conservatory. They posted the decree, which said Shostakovich's compositions and Prokofiev's were no longer to be played."

— Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist, born 1927

"You put your psyche in motion, and it will heal itself."

— Gabrielle Roth, American dancer, born 1941

"In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions: When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence."

— Gabrielle Roth, American dancer, born 1941

"There are no uncontaminated angels."

— Philip Roth, American author, born 1933

"The most interesting painting is one that expresses more of what one thinks than of what one sees."

— Mark Rothko, Latvian-American painter, born 1903