Stephen Sondheim Quotes

Quotes about:

• Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Opportunity, Visitors, Lengthy

  Stephen Sondheim, Hudson Talbott, James Lapine (2002). “Into the Woods”, p.16, Simon and Schuster

  19 Copy quote

• Anything you do, let it come from you. Then it will be new.

  Stephen Sondheim

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

  56 Copy quote

• 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 Sondheim

  Art, Play, Vision

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

  82 Copy quote

• Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Art, Order, Racist

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 05, 2005.

  62 Copy quote

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

  Stephen Sondheim

  Achieve, Perceive

  63 Copy quote

• White. A blank page or canvas. So many possibilities.

  Stephen Sondheim

  White, Pages, Canvas

  10 Copy quote

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

  Stephen Sondheim

  Fall, Sky, May

  Stephen Sondheim, Hudson Talbott, James Lapine (2002). “Into the Woods”, p.73, Simon and Schuster

  57 Copy quote

• If I cannot fly, let me sing.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Singing, Let Me, Ifs

  68 Copy quote

• Everything depends upon execution; having just a vision is no solution.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Inspirational, Vision, Execution

  33 Copy quote

• 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

  Ideas, Laughing, Cry

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

  53 Copy quote

• Best to take the moment present as a present for the moment. . .

  Stephen Sondheim

  Moments

  Stephen Sondheim, Hudson Talbott, James Lapine (2002). “Into the Woods”, p.74, Simon and Schuster

  32 Copy quote

• 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

  Theatre, Different, Roles

  51 Copy quote

• Art is craft, not inspiration.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Art, Inspiration, Writing

  15 Copy quote

• Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood. Others may decieve you - you decide what's good. You decide alone, but no one is alone. People make mistakes. Fathers, mothers, people make mistakes, holding to their own, thinking they're alone. Honor their mistakes. Fight for their mistakes. Witches can be right. Giants can be good. You decide what's right. You decide what's good.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Mother, Father, Mistake

  24 Copy quote

• The only reason to write is from love.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Reason

  "HBO Delves Into the Life of Musical Theater Legend, Stephen Sondheim" by Jesse Green, www.elle.com. December 5, 2013.

  58 Copy quote

• Ah, but if you have no expectations, You can never have a disappointment.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Disappointment, Expectations, Ifs

  6 Copy quote

• I like neurotic people. I like troubled people. Not that I don't like squared-away people, but I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface.

  Stephen Sondheim

  People, Beneath The Surface, Surface

  26 Copy quote

• 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

  Kings, Children, Years

  "We will shock you: why musicals need to take bigger risks on a smaller scale" by Boff Whalley, www.theguardian.com. November 29, 2010.

  51 Copy quote

• It's not so much do what you like as it is that you like what you do.

  Stephen Sondheim

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

  15 Copy quote

• Having just the vision's no solution, everything depends on execution

  Stephen Sondheim

  Vision, Execution, Depends

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

  5 Copy quote

• The art of making art, is putting it together.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Art, Together, Art Is

  "Sunday in the Park with George". Musical by Stephen Sondheim, May 2, 1984.

  7 Copy quote

• Teaching is a sacred profession. And art is a form of teaching.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Art, Teaching, Sacred

  7 Copy quote

• My main goal is to tell a story.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Goal, Stories

  4 Copy quote

• 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

• 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.

  9 Copy quote

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