Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (1895–1960) was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for singers and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs. Hammerstein was the lyricist and playwright in his partnerships; his collaborators wrote the music. Hammerstein collaborated with composers Jerome Kern with whom he wrote Show Boat, Vincent Youmans, Rudolf Friml, Richard A. Whiting and Sigmund Romberg; but he is best known for his collaborations with Richard Rodgers, which include Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music.
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You gotta have a dream. If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true?
—Oscar Hammerstein II
Topics: Dreams
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
Of people whose skin is a different shade.
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
—Oscar Hammerstein II
Topics: Tolerance
I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices. But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly. I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn’t write anything without hope in it.
—Oscar Hammerstein II
Topics: Beauty, Hope
A bell is no bell ’til you ring it,
A song is no song ’til you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasn’t put there to stay –
Love isn’t love
‘Til you give it away.
—Oscar Hammerstein II
Topics: Love
Do you love me because I’m beautiful, or am I beautiful because you love me?
—Oscar Hammerstein II
Topics: Beauty
Why you are born and why you are living depend entirely on what you are getting out of this world and what you are giving to it. I cannot prove that this is a balance of mathematical perfection, but my own observation of life leads me to the conclusion that there is a very real relationship, both quantitatively and qualitatively, between what you contribute and what you get out of this world.
—Oscar Hammerstein II
Topics: Giving, Optimism, Health, Positive Attitudes
The number of people that will not go to a show they don’t want to see is unlimited.
—Oscar Hammerstein II
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