Stephen Sondheim Quotes

The Greeks said very, very extreme things in their tragedies.

All art at a certain level is entertainment. We go to a tragedy by Sophocles to be entertained.

Tragedy is the oldest form of theatre.

Tragedy is a literary concept.

The subject of a good tragedy must not be realistic.

The tragic element of a character is always intriguing I think.

I consider tragedy the highest form of art.

Avoiding humiliation is the core of tragedy and comedy.

It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise.

Tragedy is a great storytelling form. It worked extremely well for Shakespeare. It worked extremely well for Jim Cameron with 'Titanic.'

I'm a tragedienne in some way. I think quite epically. I like epic landscapes and grand emotions.

Frequently my life has been likened to a Greek tragedy, and the actress in me cannot deny that comparison.

Above all else, tragedy requires the finest appreciation by the writer of cause and effect.

I used to think 'King Lear' was an analysis of insanity, but I don't really think it is. When Lear is supposed to be at his most insane, he is actually understanding the world for the first time.

Shakespeare's idea of the tragic fact is larger than this idea and goes beyond it; but it includes it, and it is worth while to observe the identity of the two in a certain point which is often ignored.

What then is tragedy? In the Elizabethan period it was assumed that a play ending in death was a tragedy, but in recent years we have come to understand that to live on is sometimes far more tragic than death.

A tragedy is a representation of an action that is whole and complete and of a certain magnitude. A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end.

Sophocles was a general: a warrior writing plays about military situations.

Nothing is easier than self-deceit, since what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.

We have a never sated appetite for self deception.

Whenever I'd seen Greek tragedy done with masks and declamations, it brought me out in a rash.

When we have emotions of fear and pity toward the hero of a tragedy, we explore aspects of our own vulnerability in a safe and pleasing setting.

I suppose our capacity for self-delusion is boundless.

Man has always sacrificed truth to his vanity, comfort and advantage. He lives not by truth but by make-believe.

As comedy presents the vital rhythm of self-preservation, tragedy exhibits that of self-consummation.