Hammerstein Quotes & Sayings

You can have fun with a son, But you got to be a father to a girl. — Oscar Hammerstein II

There is a very real relationship, both quantitatively and qualitatively, between what you contribute and what you get out of this world. — Oscar Hammerstein II

But I'm only a cockeyed optimist. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Not being a natural songwriter ... for me the appreciation of a great song and the writers came early on, growing up in a musical family. My dad got to sing songs by some of the greatest writers of all time, Rodgers and Hammerstein. — Bonnie Raitt

Rodgers & Hammerstein shows have a purity of unironic emotion that imprints itself upon people's hearts. They seem to touch our feelings so effortlessly. They have a scope and ambition that's missing from many musicals now. — Mary Rodgers

The dearest things I know are what you are. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger Across a crowded room. — Oscar Hammerstein II

The music and lyrics of Rodgers & Hammerstein connect seamlessly. Singing those beautiful songs was a joyous experience for me, and one that I will never forget. — Julie Andrews

Sentiment has never been unpopular except with a few sick persons who are made sicker by the sight of a child, a glimpse of a wedding, or the thought of a happy home. — Oscar Hammerstein II

I can't wait to play the Hammerstein shows. Things have been exploding in the last week, and that's going to be the exclamation point. — Trey Anastasio

June is bustin' out all over. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Stephen Sondheim told me that Oscar Hammerstein believed everything that he wrote. So there's great truth in the songs, and that's what was so wonderful to find. — Bernadette Peters

I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices. But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly. I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn't write anything without hope in it. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Berlin's great secret is that he says exactly what he means; sometimes he hits a gigantic line both musically and lyrically
almost Wagnerian in its strength. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Do you love me because I'm beautiful, or am I beautiful because you love me? — Oscar Hammerstein II

It is a modern tragedy that despair has so many spokesmen, and hope so few. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Ol' man river,
Dat ol' man river
He mus'know sumpin'
But don't say nuthin',
He jes'keeps rollin'
He keeps on rollin' along. — Oscar Hammerstein II

If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true? — Oscar Hammerstein II

A bell's not a bell 'til you ring it - A song's not a song 'til you sing it - Love in your heart wasn't put there to stay - Love isn't love 'til you give it away! — Oscar Hammerstein II

She can throw a whirling dervish out of whirl. — Rodgers And Hammerstein

If you become a teacher, by your pupils you'll be taught. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Asking me what I think of Oscar (Hammerstein) is like asking me what I think of the Yankees, Man o' War and Strawberry Sundaes. — Billy Rose

Hello, Young Lovers, Wherever You Are. — Oscar Hammerstein II

The last time I saw Paris.
Her heart was warm and gay. — Oscar Hammerstein II

I've never met a Mormon I didn't like. They're really nice people. They're so Disney. They're so Rodgers and Hammerstein. — Trey Parker

I have only one bit of advice to beginning writers: be sure your novel is read by Rodgers and Hammerstein. — James A. Michener

Oklahoma
Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
'Till you find your dream.
A dream that will need
All the love you can give,
Every day of your life
For as long as you live — Rodgers And Hammerstein

There is nothin' like a dame. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Fools give you reasons, wise men never try. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone, you'll never walk alone. — Oscar Hammerstein II

I'm as restless as a willow in a windstorm. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Like Rodgers and Hammerstein, I'm not afraid to deal with themes about the ups and downs of life, yet which are still entertaining, and you still feel these stories. — Harvey Weinstein

I'm as corny as Kansas in August. — Oscar Hammerstein II

I'm not going to run, I'm going to stand here and watch. Every blow will cut into my heart, and tell me who and what you are. — Oscar Hammerstein II

I feel very fortunate to have been associated with people such as Rodgers and Hammerstein. I think they were geniuses of their time. — Shirley Jones

I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy — Oscar Hammerstein II

If you don't have a dream, how are you going to make a dream come true? — Oscar Hammerstein

In their plush melodies and plummy platitudes, many Rodgers-and-Hammerstein songs were secular hymns, which so insinuated themselves into the ear of the Eisenhower-era listener that they became the liturgical music for the American mid-century. — Richard Corliss

All the sounds of the earth are like music. — Oscar Hammerstein

Ev'rythin's up to date in Kansas City. — Oscar Hammerstein II

There is Nothing Like a Dame. — Oscar Hammerstein II

Be brave, young lovers, and follow your star. — Oscar Hammerstein II

I'd let my golden chances pass me by. — Oscar Hammerstein II

One thing he had to give her credit for, she'd never called it a Relationship.
"What is it then, hey," he'd asked once.
"A secret," with her small child's smile, which like Rodgers and Hammerstein in 3/4 time rendered Profane fluttery and gelatinous. — Thomas Pynchon

What is a sophisticate? He is a man who thinks he can swim better than he can and sometimes he drowns. — Oscar Hammerstein II

It's kind of hard to get deep with Rodgers and Hammerstein. I can't think of a moral in the music - it's just fun. — Jeff Long

Peace is not the product of a victory or a command. It has no finishing line, no final deadline, no fixed definition of achievement. Peace is a never-ending process, the work of many decisions. — Oscar Hammerstein II

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

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught. — Rodgers & Hammerstein

These are a few of my favorite things. — Oscar Hammerstein II

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

Oscar Hammerstein was a surrogate father during all those many days, and weeks and months when I didn't see my own father. — Stephen Sondheim

The number of people who will not go to a show they do not want to see is unlimited. — Oscar Hammerstein II

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

If you really believe in the brotherhood of man, and you want to come into its fold, you've got to let everyone else in, too. — Oscar Hammerstein II

We never thought we were writing for posterity, because at the time everyone assumed that all the great standards had already been written by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein ... The songs we were writing were supposed to be temporary things, of the period, like comic books. — Mike Stoller

Fish got to swim, birds got to fly
I got to love one man till I die
Can't help lovin' dat man of mine. — Oscar Hammerstein II

The history of popular music is littered with great partnerships. Rodgers had his Hammerstein, Lennon had his McCartney, and Lloyd Webber had ... his photocopier ... — Humphrey Lyttelton

I ain't sayin' I'm no better than anybody else, but I'll be damned if I ain't just as good! — Oscar Hammerstein II

Rodgers and Hammerstein didn't mean anything to me. I just wanted to have a hit, I just wanted to be like those people on the radio. It was all of a case of the present tense with no projecting into the future, particularly. — Art Garfunkel

You gotta have a dream. If you don't have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true? — Oscar Hammerstein II

Fish got to swim, birds got to fly. — Oscar Hammerstein II

And what could be a hotter ticket than the improbable triumph of 'The Book of Mormon,' the musical-comedy moon shot of the season? Its creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, of Comedy Central's 'South Park,' are the most unlikely Rodgers and Hammerstein team ever to bowl a thundering strike. — James Wolcott

For when I fool the people I fear, I fool myself as well. — Oscar Hammerstein II

I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn't write anything without hope in it. ~ Oscar Hammerstein — Oscar Hammerstein II

Why you were born and why you are living depend entirely on what you are getting out of this world and what you are giving to it. I cannot prove that this is a balance of mathematical perfection, but my own observation of life leads me to the conclusion that there is a very real friendship, both quantitatively and qualitatively, between what you contribute and what you get out of life. — Oscar Hammerstein II