Stephen Sondheim Quotes and Sayings - Page 1
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“The only reason to write is from love.”
-- Stephen SondheimSource : "HBO Delves Into the Life of Musical Theater Legend, Stephen Sondheim" by Jesse Green, www.elle.com. December 5, 2013.
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“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 -
“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 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 -
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“The art of making art, is putting it together....”
-- Stephen SondheimSource : "Sunday in the Park with George". Musical by Stephen Sondheim, May 2, 1984.
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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 SondheimSource : "'On Sondheim:' The Musical-Theater Legend At 80". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. April 21, 2010.
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“Bit by bit, putting it together... Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art. Every moment makes a contribution, Every little detail plays a part. Having just the vision's no solution, Everything depends on execution, Putting it together, that's what counts.”
-- Stephen SondheimSource : Performing Arts Journal Inc, James Lapine, Stephen Sondheim (1986). “Wordplays 5: An Anthology of New American Drama”, Paj Publication
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“Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.”
-- Stephen SondheimSource : "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 05, 2005.
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“Work is what you do for others, liebchen. Art is what you do for yourself.”
-- Stephen Sondheim -
“Everything depends upon execution; having just a vision is no solution.”
-- 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 -
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“I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface.”
-- Stephen Sondheim -
“Friendship, obligation and greed are not good enough reasons to write anything.”
-- Stephen Sondheim -
“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 -
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“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 SondheimSource : "'On Sondheim:' The Musical-Theater Legend At 80". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. April 21, 2010.
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“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 -
“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 -
“You may know what you need, but to get what you want, better see that you keep what you have.”
-- Stephen Sondheim -
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“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 -
“If people have split views about your work, I think it's flattering. I'd rather have them feel something about it than dismiss it.”
-- Stephen Sondheim -
“The difference between a cow and a bean is a bean can begin an adventure.”
-- Stephen Sondheim -
“The man i'll never be, Who remembers him?”
-- Stephen Sondheim -
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“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 -
“Nowadays, there are sometimes more producers than there are people in the cast, because it takes that much money to put a show on.”
-- Stephen Sondheim -
“The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is, you know there is a solution.”
-- Stephen Sondheim -
“All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That's what makes theatre live. That's why it persists.”
-- Stephen Sondheim -
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“By the time I was 22, I was a professional. A young and flawed professional, but not an amateur.”
-- Stephen Sondheim -
“A close-up on screen can say all a song can.”
-- Stephen Sondheim
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