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" 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.' "

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" I'm very opinionated about movie musicals when they're adapted from live shows. You'll sit still for a three-minute song in a theater. But in movies, a glance from someone's eyes will tell you the whole story in a few seconds. "

Stephen Sondheim

Eyes

Story

You

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

" Nowadays, there are sometimes more producers than there are people in the cast, because it takes that much money to put a show on. "

" 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. "

" When I was growing up, there was no such thing as Off-Broadway. You either got your show on or you didn't. "

Stephen Sondheim

Growing Up

Show

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

Stephen Sondheim

Write

Restrictions

" I would have been a geologist. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" When the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you've written. "

" Two of the hardest words in the language to rhyme are life and love. Of all words! "

" If you force yourself to write away from the piano, you come up with more inventive things. If you're too good a piano player, as some composers are, the music may become flavorless and glib. And if you're not a very good pianist, you're limited to the same patterns. "

" Gotta watch out for directors. "

" I really don't want to write a score until the whole show is cast and staged. "

" I firmly believe lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to understand what's going on. Particularly in the theater, where you have costume, story, acting, orchestra. "

" Every single song I've ever written is sung by a character created by somebody else. Some might have a jaundiced view of love, some don't. But none of these songs is me singing - not a single one. "

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

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

Stephen Sondheim

Laugh

Love

" 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. "

Stephen Sondheim

Live

Theatre

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

Stephen Sondheim

Dead

Everyone

" When the song is part of the action and working as dialogue, even two minutes is way too long. "

" Generally, the best recording is the original cast, because that's the way the piece grew: integrally, with them. "

" Nice is different than good. "

" The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is, you know there is a solution. "

" 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. "