“Ben, for three thousand years architects designed buildings with columns shaped like female figures. At last Rodin pointed out that this was work too heavy for a girl. He didn't say, "Look, you jerks, if you have to do this, make it a brawny male figure." He showed it. This poor little caryatid has fallen under the load. She's a good girl—look at her face. Serious, unhappy at her failure, not blaming anyone, not even the gods. And still trying to shoulder her load after she has crumpled under it. But she is more than good art denouncing bad art. She is a symbol for every woman who ever shouldered a load too heavy. But not only women. This symbol means every man and woman who ever sweated out fortitude until they crumpled under their loads. It is courage, Ben, and victory. Victory? Victory in defeat, Ben—there is none higher. She is still trying to shoulder that stone long after it has crushed her.” ArtAuguste Rodin Book:Stranger in a Strange Land Source: Stranger in a Strange Land
“Pain and sickness and hunger and fighting—there's no need for any of it. It's as foolish as those little monkeys.” PainHumanityFightingHungerFollySicknessNeedMonkeysStranger In A Strange Land Author:Robert Heinlein
“Love" is a that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own...Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy” LoveJealousySelflessness Author:Robert Heinlein
“Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist-a master-and that is what Auguste Rodin was-can look at an old woman, protray her exactly as she is...and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be...and more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo, or even you, see that this lovely young girl is still alive, not old and ugly at all, but simply prisoned inside her ruined body. He can make you feel the quiet, endless tragedy that there was never a girl born who ever grew older than eighteen in her heart...no matter what the merciless hours have done to her. Look at her, Ben. Growing old doesn't matter to you and me; we were never meant to be admired-but it does to them.” LifeArtWisdomYouthOld Author:Robert Heinlein