Stephen Sondheim Quotes

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

Art resides in the quality of doing, process is not magic.

What matters in art is not thinking but making.

The art of making art, is putting it together.

I love the performance of a craft, whether it is modest or mean-spirited, yet I walk away when discussions of it begin - as if one should ask a gravedigger what brand of shovel he uses or whether he prefers to work at noon or in moonlight. I am interested only in the care taken, and those secret rehearsals behind it. Even if I do not understand fully what is taking place.

Those who are waiting for an epiphany to strike may wait forever. The artist simply goes to work, making art, both good and not so good.

What we make testifies who we are. People can sense care and can sense carelessness.

You can't make either life or art, you have to work in the hole in between, which is undefined. That's what makes the adventure of painting.

It is in general true that in order to create works of art one has to have leisure. On the other hand I think that one needs to experience resistance in a practical sense, and even that which is poignant to bring out what makes easy reading for others. Too much deprivation of course, means death.

All art is a kind of exploring. To discover and reveal is the way every artist sets about his business.

The workmanship was better than the subject matter.

Time is very important to art and if you don't have the time to select, art goes out the window.

Art is craft, not inspiration.

I don't think people understand how much hard work innovation is. That it's not just getting an idea. You really have to cross your T's and dot your I's long before you ever start on the project. I don't think people perceive that about me. I work hard.

The making of art is no different than prayer.

I love to be alone, I find it necessary, but I don't know if that's just how I am or if it's an essential ingredient to making, to art. Certainly on a practical level it is. But on the other hand, I think it's a myth that the creative inspiration is locked up inside the person and just needs a quiet space and the right "serious" brooding moment to get released.

Movies are so hard to get made - every step of the way of making a movie has obstacles. If you don't have that passion, if you don't have that vision, if you don't believe it's a piece of art worth making, then you probably won't get it made - you won't have a chance for it to be something special.

Industry in art is a necessity - not a virtue - and any evidence of the same, in the production, is a blemish, not a quality; a proof, not of achievement, but of absolutely insufficient work, for work alone will efface the footsteps of work.

Carved with figures strange and sweet, All made out of the carver's brain.

Quality and perfection are achieved with time. You do not create a perfect painting or a perfect poem by hurrying. Time is always coming.

Another thing all writers have in common is we're all observers. We pay attention to detail.

When the spirit of child's play enters into the creative process, it's a wonderful force and something to be nurtured.

I find that the quest to be perfect and make perfect music is like a black whole. I realize that you can come with the intention to capture a vibe and use a formula, but you have to accept that most of the time its not going to be what you envisioned and you might manifest something better. I think that's been the hardest thing to wrap my head around that most ideas we go for ends up sounding different. I think art in general should be about enjoying the process and the experience. All that matters is if you feel the music and it captures the element your going for.

Art happens when anyone in the world takes any kind of material and fashions it into a deliberate statement.

Making art is a lot about just seeing what happens if you put some energy into something.