Stephen Sondheim

Only capitalists get photographers.

— Stephen Sondheim

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

— Stephen Sondheim

Stay a child while you can be a child.

— Stephen Sondheim

I was raised to be charming, not sincere.

— Stephen Sondheim

The more restrictions you have, the easier anything is to write.

— Stephen Sondheim

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

— Stephen Sondheim

The only reason to write is from love.

— Stephen Sondheim

A close-up on screen can say all a song can.

— Stephen Sondheim

Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.

— Stephen Sondheim

White. A blank page or canvas. The challenge. Bring order to the whole Through design, composition, tension, balance, light, and harmony.

— Stephen Sondheim

“It's your father's fault that the curse got placed and the place got cursed in the first place.”

— Stephen Sondheim

In the Rodgers and Hammerstein generation, popular hits came out of shows and movies.

— Stephen Sondheim

I'm interested in the theater because I'm interested in communication with audiences. Otherwise I would be in concert music.

— Stephen Sondheim

You can't have personal investors anymore because it's too expensive, so you have to have corporate investment or a lot of rich…

— Stephen Sondheim

The concerts you enjoy together/ Neighbors you annoy together/ Children you destroy together,/ That keep marriage in tact.

— Stephen Sondheim

It should be interesting to see two entirely different ways to treat a story, geared for two entirely different kinds of audience.

— Stephen Sondheim

For me it's more fun to find an unexpected moment for a character to sing when you don't expect them to.

— Stephen Sondheim

On stage, generally speaking, the story is stopped or held back by songs, because that's the convention. Audiences enjoy the song and…

— Stephen Sondheim

Every time one can write a self-deluded song, you are way ahead of the game, way ahead. Self-delusion is the basis of…

— Stephen Sondheim

My mother wanted me off her hands. She was a working woman. She designed clothes, and she was a celebrity collector. It's…

— Stephen Sondheim

Musicals are — particularly musicals — plays also, but musicals particularly are… the last collaborator is your audience, and so you’ve got…

— Stephen Sondheim

Lemuel Ayers had had a huge success producing and designing Kiss Me, Kate. He wanted to produce this as a musical. I…

— Stephen Sondheim

I firmly believe lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to understand what's going on. Particularly in the…

— Stephen Sondheim

If I got involved with the chat rooms and Facebook and everything - I would probably never leave. That's why I don't…

— Stephen Sondheim

I get some flak for and some resistance from colleagues for because I'm interested in storytelling. I mean what I like about…

— Stephen Sondheim

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit and the vermin of the world inhabit it and its morals…

— Stephen Sondheim

“They all deserve to die. Tell you why, Mrs. Lovett, tell you why. Because in all of the whole human race Mrs…

— Stephen Sondheim

“I Read by Stephen Sondheim from "Passion" Fosca: I do not read to think. I do not read to learn. I do…

— Stephen Sondheim

“Alright! You sir, you sir, how about a shave? Come and visit your good friend Sweeney. You sir, too sir? Welcome to…

— Stephen Sondheim

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

— Stephen Sondheim

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

— Stephen Sondheim

I don't find my life that interesting. The shows, maybe. But not me.

— Stephen Sondheim

There's something inimical about the camera and song.

— Stephen Sondheim

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

— Stephen Sondheim

When I'm writing a song, I try to be the character.

— Stephen Sondheim

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

— Stephen Sondheim

Slotted spoons don't hold much soup...

— Stephen Sondheim

To wish and wait From day to day Will never keep The wolves away.

— Stephen Sondheim

I'm sure many writers have these strange, tiny little habits.

— Stephen Sondheim

“How many times do you get to be 35? Eleven”

— Stephen Sondheim