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Stephen Sondheim

"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."

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"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."

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Amber Hurdle

"Belladonna, n.: In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues."

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Amber Hurdle

"Cussing like a commoner wasn't something I was tested on. I picked that habit up outside of high school."

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Amber Hurdle

"It is very useful, when one is young, to learn the difference between "literally" and "figuratively." If something happens literally, it actually happens; if something happens figuratively, it feels like it is happening. If you are literally jumping for joy, for instance, it means you are leaping in the air because you are very happy. If you are figuratively jumping for joy, it means you are so happy that you could jump for joy, but are saving your energy for other matters."

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Amber Hurdle

"Words are not static.Language shape our memories, and it is also shaped by our memories."

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Amber Hurdle

"Know that diamonds and roses are as uncomfortable when they tumble from one's lips as toads and frogs: colder, too, and sharper, and they cut."

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Amber Hurdle

"Although profanity is part of our language that we speak everyday, it can simultaneity be used as a weapon to demoralize other people if it is offensive within its meaning."

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Amber Hurdle

"Language is memory and metaphor."

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Amber Hurdle

"English is not merely a language anymore, it has become a way of life for millions of non-native English speakers around the world."

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Amber Hurdle

"Words rich in meaning can be cheap in sound effects."

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Amber Hurdle

"Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little."

Explore more quotes by Stephen Sondheim

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Stephen Sondheim
"Everyone I used to play with has either given up or is dead."
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Stephen Sondheim
"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos."
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Stephen Sondheim
"So many good songs get written fast, because you know exactly what has to work."
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Stephen Sondheim
"If you're dealing with a musical in which you're trying to tell a story, it's got to sound like speech. At the same time it's got to be a song."
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Stephen Sondheim
"I played the organ when I went to military school, when I was 10. They had a huge organ, the second-largest pipe organ in New York State. I loved all the buttons and the gadgets. I've always been a gadget man."
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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."
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Stephen Sondheim
"Oscar Hammerstein was a surrogate father during all those many days, and weeks and months when I didn't see my own father."
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Stephen Sondheim
"My personal life and my artistic life do not interfere with each other."
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Stephen Sondheim
"Musicals are, by nature, theatrical, meaning poetic, meaning having to move the audience's imagination and create a suspension of disbelief, by which I mean there's no fourth wall."
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Stephen Sondheim
"I really don't want to write a score until the whole show is cast and staged."
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