Hands that gripped paintbrushes, pens and drum sticks; eyes that saw new meaning in the familiar; feet that leaped across stages, stood before microphones or tapped underneath desks as their resolute owners wrote. By expressing themselves, the many creative people who died this year helped us better understand ourselves. Here is a tribute to some of them, in their voices.

“You can’t let people you don’t know decide who you are.”

— Nikki Giovanni, poet, born 1943 (Read the obituary.)

“The time onstage is easier than the rest of one’s existence. At least for those two and a half hours, you can be quite sure who you are.”

— Maggie Smith, actress, born 1934 (Read the obituary.)