Best 138 quotes of Stephen Sondheim on MyQuotes

After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.

All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That's what makes theatre live. That's why it persists.

Almost all the shows I've been connected with have been extremely well cast. They're playing the show, not just doing the songs.

Am I not sensitive, clever, well-mannered, considerate, passionate, charming, as kind as I'm handsome and heir to a throne?

Any moment, big or small, Is a moment, after all. Seize the moment, skies may fall Any moment.

Anything that is white is sweet. Anything that is brown is meat. Anything that is grey, don't eat.

Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.

A song is such a short form ... that 'the slightest flaw seems like a mountain.' And so every song needs to be revised 'til it's close to perfection... But achieving perfection takes a lot of energy.

Automobile in America,Chromium steel in America,Wire-spoke wheel in America,Very big deal in America!Immigrant goes to America,Many hellos in America,Nobody knows in America,Puerto Rico's in America!I like the shores of America!Comfort is yours in America!Knobs on the doors in America!Wall-to-wall floors in America!

Bit by bit, putting it together... Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art. Every moment makes a contribution, Every little detail plays a part. Having just the vision's no solution, Everything depends on execution, Putting it together, that's what counts.

By the time I get through writing a score, I know the book better than the book writer does, because I've examined every word, and questioned the book writer on every word.

By the time I was 22, I was a professional. A young and flawed professional, but not an amateur.

Can't we just pursue our lives With our children and our wives Till that happy day arrives How do you ignore All the witches All the curses All the wolves, all the lies The false hopes, the goodbyes . . .

Careful the spell you cast, not just on children. Sometimes the spell may last Past what you can see And turn against you... Careful the tale you tell. That is the spell.

Dreams are a sweet mistake All dreamers must awake On, then, with the dance No backward glance Or my heart will break Never look back.

Everyone tells tiny lies, what's important really is the size.

Everyone would like to be on Broadway, cause if a show works, you make a great deal of money and it allows you to write other shows.

Everything depends upon execution; having just a vision is no solution.

Every writer I've ever spoken to feels fraudulent in some way or other.

For me it's more fun to find an unexpected moment for a character to sing when you don't expect them to.

Friendship, obligation and greed are not good enough reasons to write anything.

Generally, the best recording is the original cast, because that's the way the piece grew: integrally, with them.

Gotta watch out for directors.

Having just the vision's no solution, everything depends on execution

He came from a rock band and even though he was not a lead singer, I knew he was musical just from that. I also knew that he was intelligent enough from talking to him, that he would not play this part unless he could handle it vocally. I knew he was not about to get up there and have to have his voice dubbed or come off croaking. So Johnny Depp casted Johnny Depp. I trusted him entirely. I knew that he was no fool and he would only do it if he felt he could handle it. I told him to listen to the score carefully and if you can handle it, fine by me, and I was right.

I chose and my world was shaken. So what? The choice may have been mistaken; the choosing was not. You have to move on.

I do not dwell on dreams I know how soon a dream becomes an expectation How can I have expectations? Look at me, No, Captain, Look at me, Look at me!

I don't write songs apart from theatrical pieces. I'm not interested in writing songs qua songs.

I firmly believe lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to understand what's going on. Particularly in the theater, where you have costume, story, acting, orchestra.

If people have split views about your work, I think it's flattering. I'd rather have them feel something about it than dismiss it.

If you told me to write a love song tonight, I'd have a lot of trouble. But if you tell me to write a love song about a girl with a red dress who goes into a bar and is on her fifth martini and is falling off her chair, that's a lot easier, and it makes me free to say anything I want.

I get some flak for and some resistance from colleagues for because I'm interested in storytelling. I mean what I like about songwriting is songs used to tell a story.

I liked my father a lot, but I didn't see him very often because my mother was bitter about him. He remarried, and I used to have to sneak off to see him.

I like murder mysteries, the Agatha Christie kinds of things where you know that it's all going to be neatly wound up at the end.

I like neurotic people. I like troubled people. Not that I don't like squared-away people, but I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface.

I like songs that are part of a dramatic texture, and therefore I like the scenes to be active. I wanna follow the story and that means you lean on the actors.

I love computers. I love writing on them. I love gadgetry. The thing is: I am a slow reader. So, if I am going to get my work done, I read, like, a newspaper and that's it. If I got into websites and the internet, I wouldn't get any work done.

I love the theater as much as music, and the whole idea of getting across to an audience and making them laugh, making them cry - just making them feel - is paramount to me.

I'm a lazy writer. My idea of heaven is not writing. On the other hand, I'm obviously compulsive about it.

I'm before him on my knees, and he kisses me He assumes I lose my reason and I do. Men are stupid, men are vain, Love's disgusting, love's insane, A humiliating business-oh how true.

I'm interested in the theater because I'm interested in communication with audiences. Otherwise I would be in concert music.

In not-for-profit theater, you don't worry so much about how the audience is going to react. You want to make them absorb the piece.

In the Rodgers and Hammerstein generation, popular hits came out of shows and movies.

Into the woods you go again You have to every now and then Into the woods, no telling when Be ready for the journey Into the woods, each time you go There's more to learn of what you know.

Into the woods--you have to grope, But that's the way you learn to cope. Into the woods to find there's hope Of getting through the journey.

I played the organ when I went to military school, when I was 10. They had a huge organ, the second-largest pipe organ in New York State. I loved all the buttons and the gadgets. I've always been a gadget man.

I really don't want to write a score until the whole show is cast and staged.

I started listening to classical music when I was in my early teens. Prior to that, I listened to pop records or band records.

I took piano lessons when I was 6. I didn't want to go on with it. I don't remember being moved by a piece of music.

It's age. It's a diminution of energy and the worry that there are no new ideas. It's an increasing lack of confidence. I'm not the only one. I've checked with other people.