Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Stephen Sondheim (American Musician)

Stephen Joshua Sondheim (1930–2021) was an American stage musical and film composer and lyricist. His witty, cynical lyrics and brilliant scores of some of Broadway’s best-known shows broke new ground for musical theatre. He won an Academy Award, nine Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, and a Pulitzer.

Born in New York City, Sondheim grew up in Pennsylvania, where he was taken under the wing of a neighbor, the librettist Oscar Hammerstein II, who taught him to write lyrics. Sondheim wrote accompanying music for Girls of Summer (1956) before achieving fame for providing the lyrics for Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (1957,) a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story opened on Broadway in 1957 and ran for more than 700 performances; the 1961 film version won 10 Oscars.

Sondheim’s first work where he wrote both the music and the lyrics was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962.) Later shows include Company (1970,) Follies (1971,) A Little Night Music (1973,) and Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979,) all of which won Tony Awards.

Sunday in the Park with George (1984) won a Pulitzer. Assassins (1990) débuted on Broadway in 2004 and won yet another Tony.

American biographer Meryle Secrest wrote Stephen Sondheim: A Life (1998.)

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Stephen Sondheim

Musical comedies aren’t written, they are rewritten.
—Stephen Sondheim
Topics: Humor

Over a period of time it’s been driven home to me that I’m not going to be the most popular writer in the world, so I’m always happy when anything in any way is accepted.
—Stephen Sondheim
Topics: Blessings

Everything depends upon execution; having just a vision is no solution.
—Stephen Sondheim
Topics: Performance

If I cannot fly, Let me sing.
—Stephen Sondheim
Topics: Singing

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?
—Stephen Sondheim
Topics: Society

When the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you’ve written.
—Stephen Sondheim
Topics: Audiences

The concerts you enjoy together, neighbors you annoy together, children you destroy together, that make marriage a joy.
—Stephen Sondheim
Topics: Marriage

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