Stephen Sondheim

“If people have split views about your work, I think it's flattering. I'd rather have them feel something about it than dismiss it.”

“I was essentially trained by Oscar Hammerstein to think of songs as one-act plays, to move a song from point A to point B dramatically.”

“Lyrics have to be underwritten. That's why poets generally make poor lyric writers because the language is too rich. You get drowned in it.”

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

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

“Every writer I've ever spoken to feels fraudulent in some way or other.”

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

“I would have been a geologist.”

“The fact is popular art dates. It grows quaint. How many people feel strongly about Gilbert and Sullivan today compared to those who felt strongly in 1890?”

“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 'H...”

“After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.”

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

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

“I have inherited my father's sense of humour about myself. It's a lot more pleasant to make fun of yourself than when someone else does.”

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

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

“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.”

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

“I love the theater as much as music, and the whole idea of getting across to an audience and making them laugh, making them cry - just making them feel - is paramount to me.”

“All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That's what makes theatre live. That's why it persists.”