STEPHEN SCHWARTZ

On the surface, 'Book of Mormon' is extremely irreverent, but underneath, there's a great sweetness and a very positive message.

I wouldn't do a project if it weren't a story I wanted to tell. That's rewarding in itself, as a writer, if you're working on a story that you enjoy telling.

While many of my musicals deal with big themes and ideas, I don't intentionally go looking to write shows like that. A story will interest me, and then somewhere along the way, I discover that hidden inside are these epic themes.

I think the arts are very important for children growing up.

Every project has challenges, and every project has its rewards.

I don't believe in condescending to children. I don't change any writing technique.

I would like to have won a Tony, I guess, because I have always thought of myself as a theater person. But I've won my share of awards, so I don't worry about it.

I don't think it's a secret that New York tastemakers don't love my work.

Islam does have two faces—a bright face and an evil face, and we must work with the former. The reaction of Moslems against Islamic extremism doesn’t get the coverage it should.

The United States is now, as the defunct Soviet Union was decades ago, the subversive agent of a world revolution.

Everyone champions freedom of expression in the abstract but few can resist calling for censorship when they do not like what is being expressed.

One way to reduce income inequality is to get rid of the rich. If Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Rupert Murdoch and their billionaire friends could be persuaded to emigrate from the United States, income inequality would decrease overnight.

Let the green girl go!

Some things I cannot change, but 'til I try I'll never know.

You think the only people who are people, Are the ones who look and think the way you do, But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, You'll learn the things you never knew you never knew... You can own the Earth and still, All you'll own is earth until You can paint with all the colors of the wind.

I believe if I refuse to grow old, I can stay young 'til I die.

Often we treat certain aspects of ourselves as junk, having no value. We try to throw parts of ourselves in the garbage. But a human being is an ecosystem, and everything in that system is of value to the whole.

Its time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap

Cause getting your dreams It's strange, but it seems A little -- well -- complicated There's a kind of a sort of : cost There's a couple of things get : lost There are bridges you cross You didn't know you crossed Until you've crossed.

When hard times come, the greatest danger does not necessarily lie in the circumstances we face, but rather in the way we treat ourselves at the time. Nothing is more dangerous than self-hate. Nothing makes it more difficult to heal or to find the grace of peace than self-attack and the agony of self-doubt.

We can't all come and go by bubble!

What we do in our lives is what gives us contentment and serenity and makes us feel like we are doing some kind of contribution.

It's just life, so keep dancing through.

Those who don't try never look foolish.

I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason Bringing something we must learn And we are led to those who help us most to grow If we let them and we help them in return.