Quotes from Stephen Sondheim

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.

If I cannot fly, let me sing.

I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface.

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

You're so nice. You're not good, you're not bad, You're just nice. I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right. I'm the witch. You're the world.

There's a hole in the world like a big black pit who are filled with people who are filled with shit.

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.

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

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.

At last, my arm is complete again

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit and the vermin of the world inhabit it and its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit and it goes by the name of London. At the top of the hole sit the privileged few Making mock of the vermin in the lonely zoo turning beauty to filth and greed... I too have sailed the world and seen its wonders, for the cruelty of men is as wonderous as Peru but there's no place like London!

Work is what you do for others, liebchen. Art is what you do for yourself.

They all deserve to die. Even you, Mrs. Lovett Even I. Because the lives of the wicked should be made brief For the rest of us death would be relief.

Careful the things you say, Children will listen. Careful the things you do, Children will see. And learn. Children may not obey But children will listen. Children will look to you For which way to turn, To learn what to be. Careful before you say, Listen to me. Children will listen.

Music blows lyrics up very quickly, and suddenly they become more than art. They become pompous and they become self-conscious ... I firmly believe that lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to understand what's going on. Particularly in the theater, where you not only have the music, but you've got costume, story, acting, orchestra. There's a lot to take in.

The difference between a cow and a bean is a bean can begin an adventure.

One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music.

I read to see myself in other people's lives.

Best to take the moment present As a present for the moment

Anything you do, let it come from you. Then it will be new. Give us more to see...

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

I chose and my world was shaken, so what? The choice may have been mistaken, the choosing was not.

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.

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