Quotations

"What is the beginning? Love. What is the course. Love still. What the goal. The goal is love."

— Christina Rossetti, English poet, died December 29, 1894

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

— Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter, died April 9, 1882

"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 March 27, 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, died April 27, 2007

"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 March 19, 1933

"It's best to give while your hand is still warm."

— Philip Roth, American author, born March 19, 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

"The fact that people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I can communicate those basic human emotions.. the people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when painting them. And if you say you are moved only by their color relationships then you miss the point."

— Mark Rothko, Latvian-American painter, born 1903

"Pictures must be miraculous: the instant one is completed, the intimacy between the creation and the creator is ended."

— Mark Rothko, Latvian-American painter, born 1903

"I don't express myself in my paintings. I express my not-self."

— Mark Rothko, Latvian-American painter, born 1903

"There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend: One day, the black will swallow the red."

— Mark Rothko, Latvian-American painter, born 1903

"The artist discards all theories, both his own and those of others. He forgets everything when he is in front of his canvas."

— Georges Rouault, French painter, born May 27, 1871