Hamlisch Quotes & Sayings

From the time I could play the piano, I remember trying to write tunes. They were in my head, and I would just sit down and start noodling. Next thing I knew, I had written a melody. — Marvin Hamlisch

Maybe I'm old-fashioned. But I remember the beauty and thrill of being moved by Broadway musicals - particularly the endings of shows. — Marvin Hamlisch

You mustn't underestimate an audience's intelligence. — Marvin Hamlisch

I never took any vocal training. — Marvin Hamlisch

I still have great faith in what is good and right in all of us. — Marvin Hamlisch

Let's say music is needed for only 43 seconds of film. You have to score it so it is an entity, so it won't bother anyone when it ends so quickly. Or if a song runs 2 minutes and 45 seconds, but the titles run a minute longer, you have to arrange that song so it doesn't get repetitious. — Marvin Hamlisch

Music can make a difference. There is a global nature to music, which has the potential to bring all people together. Music is truly an international language, and I hope to contribute by widening communication as much as I can. — Marvin Hamlisch

She wore weird baggy clothes and seemed like the sort of person who might tesser in some dark and stormy night. — Anne Ursu

We have tried to make it clear that the United States is not just an old cow that gives more milk the more it is kicked in the flanks. — Dean Rusk

In the school of discipleship, suffering for Christ is never an elective course, but a required core class. — Steven J. Lawson

In politics, Joseph Smith was something of a radical. He preached, instead of democracy, a version of theocratic rule within a framework given by his own prophetic leadership. At Nauvoo, Smith affected a Napoleonic uniform and made himself into a general and quasi king of the polity he had constituted. — Noah Feldman

Normally I can balance two or three things. The problem is when you're out of work and don't have anything to balance. I think people assume you're always busy. You go through dry spells. — Marvin Hamlisch

It is not the bigness of anything in this kind that can hinder its motion, if the motive faculty be answerable thereunto. We see a great ship swims as well as a small cork, and an eagle flies in the air as well as a little gnat ... 'Tis likely enough that there may be means invented of journeying to the Moon; and how happy they shall be that are first successful in this attempt. — John Wilkins

I think that when NASA works on a moon shot, they know too well that all of the people working on it must do their job at 110 percent. Sometimes they probably put in 18 hour days, but they're aiming for the moon, and that's what counts. — Marvin Hamlisch

My show business career doesn't mean I can't write a symphony. It just means I was never asked to write one. — Marvin Hamlisch

You know, anyone who invites me to do something makes me feel special. — Marvin Hamlisch

I'm not one of those people who says, 'I never read reviews,' because I don't believe those people. — Marvin Hamlisch

I have always thought of music as a highway with many lanes. — Marvin Hamlisch

Life is full of little surprises.
Time travel is full of big ones. — David Gerrold

There have been studies that clearly state that children who are exposed to arts education at a young age will in fact do markedly better in their SAT tests. — Marvin Hamlisch

We cannot hope for a society in which formal organized religion dies out. But we can stop behaving as if it was worthy of our collective respect. — A. N. Wilson

As I get older, I'm slowing down and, yes, calming down in my desire to be taken seriously. That I can be entertaining and funny and high nervous energy can work against me as a serious composer, slowly but surely you'll see me be quieter just so that people will listen. — Marvin Hamlisch

If I'm within reach and can be helpful, I have a tendency to say 'Yes.' It's hard to say 'No.' — Marvin Hamlisch

Christian equality can be described as equity, or even-handedness. Egalitarianism, in contrast, demands sameness, or equality of outcome. These two visions of equality are about as comparable as dry and wet. Think of it in terms of ten teenage boys trying to dunk a basketball: equity means that they all face the same ten-foot standard, and only two them them can do it - equity thus usually means differences in outcome. Egalitarianism wants equality of outcome, and there is only one way to get that - lower the net. Sameness of outcome requires differences in the standards. — Douglas Wilson

I was always drawn to Broadway musicals, and obviously composers like Gershwin, Rodgers, Berlin and Porter were writing music that I found wildly impressive. — Marvin Hamlisch

One of the fun things about unreliable narrators is they can be funny. You can admire things about them and laugh with them. — Hanya Yanagihara

I don't think they understand it's as important as math and science. It rounds you out as a person. I think it gives you a love of certain things. You don't have to become the next great composer. It's just nice to have heard certain things or to have seen certain things. It's part of being a human being. — Marvin Hamlisch

Let me use their own terminology against them. They aborted a child in the 200th trimester. — Dennis Miller

Humanity has survived because the strong among us have, in the past, been obliged to help the weak. Without this, we would not survive. — Hany Abu-Assad

Alas, it has been hard for me to fit these ideas about fragility and antifragility within the current U.S. political discourse - that beastly two-fossil system. Most of the time, the Democratic side of the U.S. spectrum favors hyper-intervention, unconditional regulation, and large government, while the Republican side loves large corporations, unconditional deregulation, and militarism - both are the same to me here. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I started studying music at the age of five and a half. My older sister was taking piano lessons. When her teacher left our apartment, I would get up on the piano bench and start picking out the notes that were part of my sister's lessons. — Marvin Hamlisch

My whole thing is not just to play music for people, but to make them part of the evening. — Marvin Hamlisch

I can make a song up about anything: garbage, the weather, things in the news. — Marvin Hamlisch

The biggest thrill you can have is to tell people one of your songs, and have them be able to hum it. — Marvin Hamlisch

Dennis Thatcher, husband of Margaret Thatcher, when asked who wore the pants in his house, said "I do, and I also wash and iron them." I only like two kinds of men; domestic and foreign. — Mae West

I was doing a Broadway musical called 'Smile' with Howard Ashman and Marvin Hamlisch in 1984/5 when it abruptly closed. Howard was in the middle of pre-production for 'The Little Mermaid,' so he kindly invited all the girls in our cast to audition for the film. — Jodi Benson

Barbra Streisand is without a doubt one of the most honest people I have ever known. There is no doubt in my mind that she will not be doing any more concerts. Of course, she still will be making records and starring and directing in movies. — Marvin Hamlisch

For a moment my heart stopped beating. "It's not the fall you know." His breath was all warm on my cheek. "It's that sudden stop at the end that does it." Just before I kissed him, I whispered, "I hope it doesn't hurt much. — James Buchanan

Many, many years ago, I was one of the few conductors who talked to the audience and now a lot of classical conductors have figured it out ... otherwise, you just get the back of someone's head playing music you could hear on a CD. It's not enough anymore. — Marvin Hamlisch