Quotes from 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.

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

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

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.

Nowadays, there are sometimes more producers than there are people in the cast, because it takes that much money to put a show on.

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

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.

I fell into lyric writing because of music. I backed into it.

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

Lemuel Ayers had had a huge success producing and designing Kiss Me, Kate. He wanted to produce this as a musical. I got the job. It was a professional score.

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.

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.

When I was growing up, there was no such thing as Off-Broadway. You either got your show on or you didn't.

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

Over a period of time it's been driven home to me that I'm not going to be the most popular writer in the world, so I'm always happy when anything in any way is accepted.

By the time I was 22, I was a professional. A young and flawed professional, but not an amateur.

It's not so hard to be married, I've done it three or four times.

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.

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

Generally, the best recording is the original cast, because that's the way the piece grew: integrally, with them.

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.

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.

My idea of heaven is not writing.

By the time I get through writing a score, I know the book better than the book writer does, because I've examined every word, and questioned the book writer on every word.