Stephen Sondheim Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• 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

  49 Copy quote

• 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

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

  Stephen Sondheim

  Communication, Would Be, Theater

  "'On Sondheim:' The Musical-Theater Legend At 80". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. April 21, 2010.

  47 Copy quote

• Work is what you do for others, liebchen. Art is what you do for yourself.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Art, Work, Art Is

  Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine (1986). “Sunday in the park with George: a musical”

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• Nice is different than good.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Nice, Different

  "Fictional character: Little Red Riding Hood". "Into the Woods". Musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, 1986.

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• Music is structure out of Chaos

  Stephen Sondheim

  Chaos, Structure, Music Is

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• Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul but it's bad for the heart.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Heart, Soul, Anticipation

  "Song: "Perpetual Anticipation" ("A Little Night Music")". 1990.

  10 Copy quote

• Music straightjackets a poem and prevents it from breathing on its own, whereas it liberates a lyric. Poetry doesn't need music; lyrics do.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Breathing, Lyric Poetry, Needs

  14 Copy quote

• 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.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Journey, Woods, Way

  "Into the Woods review - a reframing of fantastical stories" by Clare Brennan, www.theguardian.com. January 10, 2016.

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• You may know what you need, but to get what you want, better see that you keep what you have.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Needs, May, Want

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• Writing is a form of mischief.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Form, Mischief

  6 Copy quote

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

  Stephen Sondheim

  Inspirational, Moving On, Mistake

  Performing Arts Journal Inc, James Lapine, Stephen Sondheim (1986). “Wordplays 5: An Anthology of New American Drama”, Paj Publication

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• Stay a child while you can be a child.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Inspirational, Children, Kids

  Stephen Sondheim, Hudson Talbott, James Lapine (2002). “Into the Woods”, p.44, Simon and Schuster

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• The difference between a cow and a bean is a bean can begin an adventure.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Adventure, Differences, Cows

  "Fictional character: Jack". "Into the Woods". Musical by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim, 1986.

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• 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.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Time, Learning, Journey

  11 Copy quote

• No one has ever known me as clearly as you. No one has ever shown me that love allows everything. Not pretty or safe or easy but something I never knew. Love within reason, that isn't love and I learned that from you.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Love, Learning, Safe

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• 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.

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• White. A blank page or canvas. The challenge. Bring order to the whole Through design, composition, tension, balance, light, and harmony.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Light, Order, White

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• Content dictates form and style.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Style, Form

  Source: www.broadwayworld.com

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• Oh if life were made of moments Even now and then a bad one--! But if life were only moments, Then you'd never know you had one.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Moments, Now And Then, Made

  Stephen Sondheim, Hudson Talbott, James Lapine (2002). “Into the Woods”, p.76, Simon and Schuster

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• I don't like the word 'career'. When somebody says to me, 'oh, you've had such a wonderful career', I think, 'career - that's after you're dead.' I just don't think that way.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Thinking, Careers, Way

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• I've always preferred actors who sing to singers who act in all the shows I've done.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Actors, Done, Singers

  Source: www.movieweb.com

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• The more you cling to things, The more you love them, The more the pain you suffer, When they're taken from you.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Love, Pain, Taken

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• Musicals are — particularly musicals — plays also, but musicals particularly are… the last collaborator is your audience, and so you’ve got to wait ’til the last collaborator comes in before you can complete the collaboration.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Play, Waiting, Lasts

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

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• I read to see myself in other people's lives.

  Stephen Sondheim

  People

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