Stephen Sondheim Quotes

I don't want to think my life as a career.

My life is way bigger than boxing or acting or being rich or being famous or endorsements.

The phrase "work-life balance" tells us that people think that work is the opposite of life. We should be talking about life-life balance.

You should not confuse your career with your life.

I had a world. I don't think I had a career. I made films.

My career is really important to me, but there have to be other great, important things in your life besides work.

I don't live for my work. My life is my life. That's more important, and I think that helps my work.

I have a full life off the road. I was never in it just for the money or the career. That's why I'm comfortable with myself. I know who I am out of the spotlight.

Neither of us are workaholics. I think the key thing is to accept that if you only exist through what you do, then you become what you do, and this is very wrong.

Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first.

I was not going to be an actor. I was an engineer in physics. That's what I did: I graduated with a physics degree, and I had become a little bit distressed that I'd have to work for somebody - anybody! And I thought, "I'm not going to make a mark on anything. If I can't express myself, then I don't know what the heck I'm going to do with this life." I think it was just one of those germs that said, "No, no, no, you've got to say things. You've got to tell people things. You've got to express your opinion in this life, because that's how you started."

Other people want a career or success because they think that will help them find their personal life somewhere. I've done it the other way around. What I have is what everybody else is looking for. I know I've got it made. I know I'm a very lucky man. That came first. Then the music and the career just kind of took care of themselves.

I think the world's a better place because Bill realized that his goal isn't to be the richest guy in the cemetery, right?

The key is to figure out what you want out of life, not what you want out of your career.

You know, your career is just your career; your life is your life!

Life is too short. I only want to do things that I enjoy, or that I think are good or worth doing.

Most of us think that decisions such as where shall I live, with whom shall I partner, what shall I pick as a career for my life are the most important decisions that we make. But from the point of view of the universe these decisions are not that important. Within you, you have already made decisions about who you are, what the universe is and how you will relate to other people and how you will relate to the universe and these decisions are creating consequences in your life moment by moment.

I lost money, coaching jobs, a shot at the Hall of Fame. But when you weigh that against all the things that are really and truly important, things that are deep inside you, then I think I've succeeded.

You know when I think about what I'm doing - what I'm doing and the way I'm doing it is more important to me than any amount of money or anything like that because it's my artistic work.

Retiring isn't even a word I'd understand. Taking what makes you feel alive, and everyone's looking for ways of making them feel alive, in whatever they do - relationships, business or work - and not just being a voice for a money making business.

Most people have no sense of self-awareness. They're not aware of what they really want. They knew it when they were younger but then as they get older they listened to parents, they listened to peers and they think that, for instance, money is the most important thing when it really isn't.

I don't want to think my life as a career. I'm interested in my work only because of the meaning I can make.

I think everyone is always asking themselves, How is my work meaningful, how is my life meaningful? As I get older, I feel like who I am as a person and a citizen is more important than who I am in my work. But I do think it reframed slightly for me, how much I have to care about a project in order to want to do it. Sometimes, obviously, you have a take a job for money. But I think I'm quicker now when I get a script that's, say, borderline misogynist, I'm not going to go in for it. I'm thinking more about what I'm putting into the world.

Most people didn't pursue their passions simply because of the promise of a paycheck. They pursued them because they couldn't imagine doing anything else with their lives.

Don't confuse having a career with having a life.