Having a tradition is a great thing to work within, and maybe today [it] is the only way to really land musically dramatic work.

If you write enough musicals you pretty much have a sense of where they should go, what you'll need, and when; how to pull people on that journey.

The best parts about writing a show are [its] first, second and 10th anniversaries. Everything else is relative levels of hell.

I've been very fortunate as a composer to be involved with projects that have really propelled my scores forward. I'm very proud of it.

I don't write songs for myself anymore. I only write songs on assignment. It's purely a business, but it is still so important to me emotionally.

I've always juggled a lot of projects because at least half the projects you do get shelved. So you have to do a lot of things in order for things to move forward.

I will find my wayI can go the distanceI'll be there somedayIf I can be strongI know every mile will be worth my whileI would go most anywhere to feel like I belong

'Yeezus, ' I really love it. I think the sound of it is cool.

Microsoft is not about greed. It's about innovation and fairness.

When gossip grows old it becomes myth.

Art is never decoration, embellishment; instead, it is work of enlightenment. Art, in other words, is a technique for acquiring liberty.

As for what's the most challenging aspect of teaching, it's convincing younger writers of the importance of reading widely and passionately.

Some songs you get. Some songs you may not. And I think that's the beauty of art: to question and to ask, to understand the deeper meaning after two or three or four listenings.

I hate arrows. They try to tell me which direction to go. It's like "I ain't going that way, line with two thirds of a triangle on the end!"

A stranger is just a friend I haven't met yet.

I always think it's far more admirable to confuse people than it is to reassure them.

I am a dog person and not a cat person, definitely a dog person.