Stephen Sondheim Quotes & Sayings

White. A blank page or canvas. So many possibilities. — Stephen Sondheim

TODD:
The history of the world, my love
LOVETT:
Save a lot of graves,
Do a lot of relatives favors!
TODD:
Is those below serving those up above!
LOVETT:
Ev'rybody shaves,
So there should be plenty of flavors!
TODD:
How gratifying for once to know
BOTH:
That those above will serve those down below! — Stephen Sondheim

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! — Stephen Sondheim

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 NEVER LOOK BACK ... Follies — Stephen Sondheim

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

If you force yourself to write away from the piano, you come up with more inventive things. If you're too good a piano player, as some composers are, the music may become flavorless and glib. And if you're not a very good pianist, you're limited to the same patterns. — Stephen Sondheim

The art of making art, is putting it together ... — Stephen Sondheim

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

I don't listen to recordings of my songs. I don't avoid it, I just don't go out of my way to do it. — Stephen Sondheim

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. — Stephen Sondheim

I was a mathematician by nature, and still am - I just knew I didn't want to be a mathematician. So I decided not to take any mathematics courses. — Stephen Sondheim

If the end is right, it justifies the beans! — Stephen Sondheim

Sometimes colleagues in performance are absolutely astonishing. — Stephen Sondheim

Some of us don't like the way you've been telling it. — Stephen Sondheim

Anything you do, let it come from you. Then it will be new. Give us more to see ... — Stephen Sondheim

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

I have, by nature, an analytical mind. — Stephen Sondheim

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 ... — Stephen Sondheim

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. — Stephen Sondheim

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

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

If you're dealing with a musical in which you're trying to tell a story, it's got to sound like speech. At the same time it's got to be a song. — Stephen Sondheim

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

Loving you is not a choice,
It's who I am.
Loving you is not a choice
And not much reason to rejoice,
But it gives me purpose
Gives me voice to say to the world:
This is why I live
You are why I live.
Loving you is why I do
The things I do
Loving you is not in my control.
But loving you, I have a goal
For what's left of my life ...
I would live,
And I would die for you. — Stephen Sondheim

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. — Stephen Sondheim

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

Because in all of the whole human race
Mrs. Lovett, there are two kinds of men and only two
There's the one staying put in his proper place
And the one with his foot in the other one's face
Look at me, Mrs Lovett, look at you.
No, we all deserve to die
Even you, Mrs Lovett, even I!
Because the lives of the wicked should be made brief
For the rest of us death will be a relief — Stephen Sondheim

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

So many good songs get written fast, because you know exactly what has to work. — Stephen Sondheim

Puzzles are like songs - A good puzzle can give you all the pleasure of being duped that a mystery story can. It has surface innocence, surprise, the revelation of a concealed meaning, and the catharsis of solution. — Stephen Sondheim

Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star. — Stephen Sondheim

Stop worrying where you're going. Move on. If you can know where you're going, you've gone. Just keep moving on. — Stephen Sondheim

You can't have personal investors anymore because it's too expensive, so you have to have corporate investment or a lot of rich people. — Stephen Sondheim

My cage has many rooms. — Stephen Sondheim

If I cannot fly, let me sing. — Stephen Sondheim

I was essentially trained by Oscar Hammerstein to think of songs as one-act plays, to move a song from point A to point B dramatically. — Stephen Sondheim

The difference between a cow and a bean is a bean can begin an adventure. — Stephen Sondheim

Gotta watch out for directors. — Stephen Sondheim

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

Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor. — Stephen Sondheim

I think 'lunch' is one of the funniest words in the world. — Stephen Sondheim

I'm a great audience. I cry very easily. I suspend disbelief in two seconds. — Stephen Sondheim

The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is, you know there is a solution. — Stephen Sondheim

What justifies a character singing one idea for 3 minutes on the screen? I get impatient and want the story to carry on. I don't get impatient in the theatre. — Stephen Sondheim

I certainly wanted my name in lights. I wanted my name on a marquee. I wanted recognition on Broadway. — Stephen Sondheim

Math and music are intimately related. Not necessarily on a conscious level, but sure. — Stephen Sondheim

Everyone I used to play with has either given up or is dead. — Stephen Sondheim

My personal life and my artistic life do not interfere with each other. — Stephen Sondheim

When I listen to my work, I think, what's so inflammatory about it? It's not really that dissonant. A lot of people who used to hate my stuff have come round to it. — Stephen Sondheim

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. — Stephen Sondheim

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

Ah, but if you have no expectations, You can never have a disappointment. — Stephen Sondheim

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

Everybody faces a blank piece of paper, no matter what they've written or painted or composed before. I can't imagine approaching every single new project with-without doubt. — Stephen Sondheim

The dumbing down of the country reflects itself on Broadway. The shows get dumber, and the public gets used to them. — Stephen Sondheim

The Tonys ignored West Side Story. The Tonys ignored Gypsy. It's a kind of public humiliation. — Stephen Sondheim

You have to be submitted for the Pulitzer, and unbeknownst to us, a choral director whom I know had submitted us. — Stephen Sondheim

Children can only grow from something you love to something you lose. — Stephen Sondheim

My mother wanted me off her hands. She was a working woman. She designed clothes, and she was a celebrity collector. It's my mother's ambition to be a celebrity. — Stephen Sondheim

If I got involved with the chat rooms and Facebook and everything - I would probably never leave. That's why I don't do it. I literally don't do it. At all. — Stephen Sondheim

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

Let the moment go ... Don't forget it for a moment, though. Just remembering you've had an "and" when you're back to "or" makes the "or" mean more than it did before ... Now I understand! And it's time to leave the woods. — Stephen Sondheim

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

Lyrics have to be underwritten. That's why poets generally make poor lyric writers because the language is too rich. You get drowned in it. — Stephen Sondheim

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. — Stephen Sondheim

I have inherited my father's sense of humour about myself. It's a lot more pleasant to make fun of yourself than when someone else does. — Stephen Sondheim

Johnny Depp's performance is quite remarkable. Sweeney's desire for revenge and the simmering anger and hurt that he feels carry the story forward, and Johnny finds the most remarkable variety within that narrow set of emotions. The intensity is at a boil all the time and he never drops it. It's real anger. — Stephen Sondheim

Pointillism takes emotional images, character, etc., and makes them all come together and make a whole that tells a story. — Stephen Sondheim

Alright! You sir, you sir, how about a shave?
Come and visit your good friend Sweeney.
You sir, too sir? Welcome to the grave.
I will have vengenance.
I will have salvation.
Who sir, you sir?
No ones in the chair, Come on! Come on!
Sweeney's. waiting. I want you bleeders.
You sir! Anybody!
Gentlemen now don't be shy!
Not one man, no, nor ten men.
Nor a hundred can assuage me.
I will have you!
And I will get him back even as he gloats
In the meantime I'll practice on less honorable throats.
And my Lucy lies in ashes
And I'll never see my girl again.
But the work waits!
I'm alive at last!
And I'm full of joy! — Stephen Sondheim

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. — Stephen Sondheim

Let Pirelli's / Miracle Elixir / Activate your roots, sir ...
Keep it off your boots, sir- / Eats right through.
Yes, get Pirelli's! / Use a bottle of it! / Ladies seem to love it ...
Flies do, too! — Stephen Sondheim

When the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you've written. — Stephen Sondheim

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

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. — Stephen Sondheim

We lose things.
And then we choose things.
And there are Louis's
And there are Georges-
Well, Louis's
And George. — Stephen Sondheim

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit
and the vermin of the world inhabit it
and its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit
and it goes by the name of London.
At the top of the hole sit the privileged few
Making mock of the vermin in the lonely zoo
turning beauty to filth and greed ...
I too have sailed the world and seen its wonders,
for the cruelty of men is as wonderous as Peru
but there's no place like London! — Stephen Sondheim

Making lyrics feel natural, sit on music in such a way that you don't feel the effort of the author, so that they shine and bubble and rise and fall, is very, very hard to do. Whereas you can sit at the piano and just play and feel you're making art. — Stephen Sondheim

Swing your razor wide! Sweeney, hold it to the skies! — Stephen Sondheim

Deciding what is to be sung and what is not to be sung is really what writing a musical is about. — Stephen Sondheim

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. — Stephen Sondheim

Success is like failure, It's how you perceive it, It's what you do with it, not how you achieve it. — Stephen Sondheim

I don't find my life that interesting. The shows, maybe. But not me. — Stephen Sondheim

The fact is popular art dates. It grows quaint. How many people feel strongly about Gilbert and Sullivan today compared to those who felt strongly in 1890? — Stephen Sondheim

You have two kinds of shows on Broadway - revivals and the same kind of musicals over and over again, all spectacles. You get your tickets for 'The Lion King' a year in advance, and essentially a family comes as if to a picnic, and they pass on to their children the idea that that's what the theater is - a spectacular musical you see once a year, a stage version of a movie. It has nothing to do with theater at all. It has to do with seeing what is familiar. We live in a recycled culture. — Stephen Sondheim

It should be interesting to see two entirely different ways to treat a story, geared for two entirely different kinds of audience. — Stephen Sondheim

I'm sure many writers have these strange, tiny little habits. — Stephen Sondheim

So here's to the girls on the go- Everybody tries Look into their eyes and you'll see what they know: Everybody dies. A toast to that invincible bunch - The dinosaurs surviving the crunch - Let's hear it for the ladies who lunch - Everybody rise! — Stephen Sondheim

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

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

When the song is part of the action and working as dialogue, even two minutes is way too long. — Stephen Sondheim

Musicals are plays, but the last collaborator is your audience, so you've got to wait 'til the last collaborator comes in before you can complete the collaboration. — Stephen Sondheim

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

No one has ever loved me
As deeply as you.
No one has truly shown me
What love could be like until now:
Not pretty or safe or easy
But more than I ever knew.
Love within reason -
That isn't love.
And I've learned that from you.. — Stephen Sondheim

Music blows lyrics up very quickly, and suddenly they become more than art. They become pompous and they become self-conscious ... I firmly believe that lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to understand what's going on. Particularly in the theater, where you not only have the music, but you've got costume, story, acting, orchestra. There's a lot to take in. — Stephen Sondheim

At last, my arm is complete again — Stephen Sondheim

The more restrictions you have, the easier anything is to write. — Stephen Sondheim

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. — Stephen Sondheim

My main goal is to tell a story. — Stephen Sondheim

I would have been a geologist. — Stephen Sondheim

When you trance out properly, when you're completely in that world, there is no other world, so there's no conflict. — Stephen Sondheim