Quotes from Lin-Manuel Miranda

I think I'm always subconsciously trying to write the ideal school play. Lots of parts for everybody, great parts for women - don't forget, more girls try out than boys in the school play; everyone gets to be in the school play.

I like to separate the music- and lyric-writing processes if I can. I'll sort of noodle around on my keyboard and my computer until I have a beat or a chord progression, I'll record it as a loop, export it to iTunes, then walk around with the loop and sort of talk to myself in the loop, and that's how I get the lyrics.

My kid gets me out of bed in the morning.

I was one of several songwriters I think interviewed [for Moana]. I'm a huge fan of Disney animated movies, and I've always wanted to write an animated score since I was a little kid.

The music you love when you're a teenager is always going to be the most important to you.

You are perfectly cast in your life. I can't imagine anyone but you in the role. Go play.

My sister is as responsible for anyone for giving me good taste in music.

Don't be shocked when your history book mentions me.

My power of speech, unimpeachable. Only 19 but my mind is older.

With every word, I drop knowledge. I'm a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal trying to reach my goal.

Everyday has the potential to be the greatest day of your life

In 'Hamilton,' we're telling the stories of old, dead white men, but we're using actors of color, and that makes the story more immediate and more accessible to a contemporary audience.

When I was asked to do a song from 'In the Heights' at the White House in 2009, I chose instead to do 'Alexander Hamilton' because I felt like I was meeting a moment.

History is so subjective. The teller of it determines it.

Pretty much anything William Shatner is in is great. He's great at playing that 'I'm the only one sane in the world' character.

'West Wing' was huge. Like 'Hamilton,' it pulls back the curtain on how decision-making happens at the highest level, or at least how you hope it would be. The amount of information Aaron Sorkin packs into a scene gave me this courage to trust the audience to keep up.

The music you love when you're a teenager is always going to be the most important to you, and I find that it's all over the score of 'Hamilton.'

If there is a Busta Rhymes of musical theater, it probably is Mandy Patinkin.

My only responsibility as a playwright and a storyteller is to give you the time of your life in the theatre. I just happen to think that with Hamilton's story, sticking close to the facts helps me. All the most interesting things in the show happened.

I like the quiet it takes to pursue an idea the way I pursued 'Hamilton,' but I couldn't write a book, because there's no applause at the end of writing a book.

I'm not going to hang out with celebrities, I'm not going to parties. I have two songs due for Moana next week, and I'm going to go and spend some time with Maui and Moana in the ocean, in my mind.

You know what's a great way of tricking people into thinking you're a genius? Write a show about geniuses!

Everything we know about Hamilton, we knew when he was alive, because he told us.

Making words rhyme for a living is one of the great joys of my life... That's a superpower I've been very conscious of developing. I started at the same level as everybody else, and then I just listened to more music and talked to myself until it was an actual superpower I could pull out on special occasions.