Stephen Sondheim Quotes About Writing

Quotes about: Writing

• The only reason to write is from love.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Reason

  "HBO Delves Into the Life of Musical Theater Legend, Stephen Sondheim" by Jesse Green, www.elle.com. December 5, 2013.

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

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Hands, Ideas

  "Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies (Art)". Book edited by John Walker, 2001.

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

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Not Good Enough, Greed

• The worst thing you can do is censor yourself as the pencil hits the paper. You must not edit until you get it all on paper. If you can put everything down, stream-of-consciousness, you'll do yourself a service.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Paper, Consciousness

• The last collaborator is your audience ... when the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you've written. Things that seem to work well -- work in a sense of carry the story forward and be integral to the piece -- suddenly become a little less relevant or a little less functional or a little overlong or a little overweight or a little whatever. And so you start reshaping from an audience.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Temperature, Stories

• The more restrictions you have, the easier anything is to write.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Easier, Restriction

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 05, 2005.

• 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.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Song, Writing, Perfection

• Art is craft, not inspiration.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Art, Inspiration, Writing

• I fell into lyric writing because of music. I backed into it.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing

• I didn't really want to write just lyrics, but I wanted to meet Leonard Bernstein. Music was always the first reason I was writing songs.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Song, Writing, Want

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

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

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Want, Score

  "Maestro of Broadway". Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

• One of the hardest things about writing lyrics is to make the lyrics sit on the music in such a way that you're not aware there was a writer there.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Way, Hardest

  "Maestro of Broadway". Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

• Writing is a form of mischief.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Form, Mischief

• Sometimes I'll ask the book writer to write a monologue, not to be performed, just as if they were notes for the character.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Book, Writing, Character

  "Maestro of Broadway". Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

• 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.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Girl, Song, Fall

• When you know your cast well and their strengths and weaknesses, you can start writing for them, just the way Shakespeare wrote for his actors.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Weakness, 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.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Done, Computer

  Source: www.broadwayworld.com

• You get used to the exact amount of space between lines. You write a word and then you write an alternate word over it. You want enough room so you can read it, so the lines can't be too close.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Space, Lines

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

  Stephen Sondheim

  Song, Writing, Pieces

  Source: www.movieweb.com

• Deciding what is to be sung and what is not to be sung is really what writing a musical is about.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Musical

• 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.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Book, Writing, Doe

  "Maestro of Broadway". Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

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

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Way, Feels

• 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.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Broadway, Causes

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

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