Stephen Sondheim Quotes & Sayings (Page 5)

“When you know your cast well and their strengths and weaknesses, you can start writing for them, just the way Shakespeare wrote for his actors.”

“Everybody faces a blank piece of paper, no matter what they've written or painted or composed before. I can't imagine approaching every single new project with-without doubt.”

“Everyone I used to play with has either given up or is dead.”

“So many good songs get written fast, because you know exactly what has to work.”

“There's something inimical about the camera and song.”

“Every time one can write a self-deluded song, you are way ahead of the game, way ahead. Self-delusion is the basis of nearly all the great scenes in all the great plays, from 'Oedipus' to 'Hamlet.'”

“My idea of heaven is not writing.”

“Oscar Hammerstein was a surrogate father during all those many days, and weeks and months when I didn't see my own father.”

“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.”

“My parents weren't around much, but I assumed everybody's family was the same. I didn't know people had mummies and daddies who would give them milk and cookies after school. I just thought everybody lived on Central Park West and they had a nanny to take care of them.”