Stephen Sondheim Quotes

It is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are they the result of previous study?

There's nothing I despise more than people trying to be something that they're not.

In life, if you have an enthusiasm for what they call 'good manners,' sometimes people don't quite believe you. I've had that once or twice before, where they assume you can't be for real.

We ought to see far enough into a hypocrite to see even his sincerity.

Always be sincere, even if you don't mean it.

Politeness is only one half good manners and the other half good lying.

I can't stand fake people. I can feel it when someone feigns it.

The man who thrusts his manners upon me does as if he were to insist on introducing me to his cabinet of curiosities, when I wished to see himself.

I'm not always sincere. One can't be in this world, you know.

I don't like it when someone can look you in the eye and lie to you, or pretend that they're more than you.

Irony is the recourse of the weak-minded wimp, I think. I hate bands that deliver their songs with knowing smiles on their faces, so that if those songs fall flat they can say 'Ah well, we never really meant it anyway.' It's so dishonest.

The moment you sense someone is making something because they think people are gonna buy it or like it, it's just so phony! The public has a nose for phony like nobody else.

A man of such obvious and exemplary charm must be a liar.

Discretion is the polite word for hypocrisy.

The truth just happens - lies take time to make.

Ostentation is the signal flag of hypocrisy.

You can tell when someone is putting on a role. If someone really believes in what they're saying, it's quite hard to find cracks.

I am not sincere, even when I say I am not.

I abhor hypocrisy.

Most style is not honest enough.

I love old-fashioned manners, as long as it's not forced. I can tell when it's natural or when someone is just trying to impress me.

Just because you're upfront with someone doesn't mean you're an honest person; you might just be someone in the passenger seat.

You want me to tell me the truth or do you want me to stroke you?

The art of pleasing is the art of deception.

If somebody ever says something is a mature theme, it's bound to not be. I mean, you shouldn't fall for that. You can make it sound mature, but anything that's about being mature is pretty immature.