The wisdom of Sondheim — Page 3

I originally had a joke here but I felt really stupid since everyone else was taking the thread so seriously :P Instead I'll post a lyric I really like:

You take one road,
You try one door,
There isn't time for any more.
One's life consists of either/or.
One has regrets
Which one forgets,
And as the years go on.
The road you didn't take
Hardly comes to mind,
Does it?
The door you didn't try,
Where could it have led?
The choice you didn't make
Never was defined.
Was it!
Dreams you didn't dare
Are dead.
Were they ever there?
Who said!
I don't remember,
I don't remember
At all.


The whole song, really.

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Updated On: 4/12/06 at 02:56 AM

I've got quite a few... :) but some of them have been said...

"Must it all be either less or more, either plain or grand? Is it always 'or'? Is it never 'and'?"
and
"Just remembering you've had and 'and', when you're back to 'or', makes the 'or' mean more than it did before."
and
"Careful the tale you tell, that is the spell, children will listen." - Into the Woods


"Demons'll charm you with a smile, for a while, but in time...
Nothing can harm you, not while I'm around..." - Sweeney Todd


"Marry me a little, love me just enough. Warm and sweet and easy, just the simple stuff."
and
"But alone is alone, not alive." - Company


"Could it be? Yes, it could. Something's coming, something good, if I can wait! Something's coming, I don't know what it is, but it is gonna be great!" - West Side Story

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Then at least this thread will be full of the truth.

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I have to sort of disagree on the "Marry Me A Little" lyrics, because I think the point is that they aren't true wisdom. Robert at that point is so noncommittal that he only wants "a little" or "just enough," but then in "Being Alive" he realizes that you have to completely throw yourself into a relationship.

All of "Being Alive" is incredibly wise, though.

Updated On: 4/12/06 at 10:25 AM

careful the wish you make- wishes come true, not free.

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"What's that muddle in the middle? It's the puddle where the poodle did the piddle."

"Then actor, that's compacter.
Yes, and always arrives overdone!"

So. true. All of A Little Priest, really.

"Everything's different, nothing's changed.
Only maybe slightly rearranged.

You're sorry-grateful,
Regretful-happy.
Why look for answers
When none occur?
You always are what you always were,
Which has nothing to do with, all to do with her."

Being Alive, Everybody Says Don't, and Every Day a Little Death. All of the lyrics.

I have two more:

"Into the woods, you have to grope
But that's the way you learn to cope
Into the woods, there's always hope
Of getting through the journey"

***

"Into the woods, you go again
You have to every now and then
Into the woods, no telling when
Be ready for the journey"

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"Somebody sit in my chair, and ruin my sleep, and make me aware,
of being alive..."
- Company

"We lose things...
And then we choose things.
And there are Louis'
And there are Georges.
Well... Louis'
And George..."
- Sunday in the Park With George

I love this whole interaction between George and Dot. It's so heartbreaking...:

Dot: Yes, George, run to your work. Hide behind your painting. I came to tell you I was leaving because I thought you might care to know. Foolish of me, because you care about nothing.

Georges Seurat: I care about many things.

Dot: Things, George, not people. What you care for is yourself.
Georges Seurat: I care about this painting. You will be in this painting.

Dot: I am something you can use.

Georges Seurat: I thought you understood...

Dot: It's because I understand that I left, that I am leaving.

Georges Seurat: There's nothing I can say, is there?

Dot: Yes, there is. You could tell me not to go. Say it to me. Tell me not to go. Tell me that you're hurt, tell me that you're bored, anything, but don't assume I know. Tell me what you feel.

Georges Seurat: What I feel? You know exactly what I feel. Why do you insist you must hear the words when you know I cannot give you words? Not the ones you need...

"I am nothing,
You are wind and devil and god,
Charlie...
Take my blood and my body for your love.
I would swim oceans, I would move mountains,
I would do anything for you.
What do you want me to do?"
- ASSASSINS

"Curtain up,
Light the lights..."
- GYPSY

"I'm a fragment of the day..."
- Pacific Overtures


(Ps... I love the user Dirty Rotten Scoundrel)

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