“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." -Robert
A. Heinlein
