QuoteProject
I do not dwell on dreams I know how soon a dream becomes an expectation How can I have expectations? Look at me, No, Captain, Look at me, Look at me!
Stephen Sondheim
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the fleeting nature of dreams and cautions against transforming them into unrealistic expectations.

In this quote, Stephen Sondheim reflects on the difference between dreams and expectations, suggesting that while dreams can inspire us, they should not be clung to as expectations because they can lead to disappointment. He seems to question the merit of having expectations rooted in dreams, especially when they can shift quickly into reality, perhaps urging a more grounded approach to aspirations.

Themes

DreamsExpectationsRealityDisappointmentAspiration

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a motivational speech to encourage people to pursue realistic goals.

More from Stephen Sondheim

Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
Stephen SondheimRead
After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.
Stephen SondheimRead
Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.
Stephen SondheimRead
Let Pirelli's / Miracle Elixir / Activate your roots, sir... Keep it off your boots, sir- / Eats right through. Yes, get Pirelli's! / Use a bottle of it! / Ladies seem to love it... Flies do, too!
Stephen SondheimRead
Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.
Stephen SondheimRead
Careful the spell you cast, not just on children. Sometimes the spell may last Past what you can see And turn against you... Careful the tale you tell. That is the spell.
Stephen SondheimRead

Similar quotes

Fear represents our need to hang on to the riverbank, to control outcomes, results, our lives; it swims upstream. Truth is about releasing that hold, letting go of results, and trusting the direction of Life’s current.
Tom ShadyacRead
It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.
Jackie Joyner-KerseeRead
It changes your life, the pursuit of truth.
Ben BradleeRead
I never meet a ragged boy in the street without feeling that i may owe him a salute, for I know not what possibilities may be buttoned up under his coat.
James A. GarfieldRead
I am done with great things and big things, great institutions and big success, and I am for those tiny, invisible molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, yet which if you give them time, will rend the hardest monuments of man's pride.
William JamesRead
If you have not done things worthy of being written about, at least write things worthy of being read.
Giacomo CasanovaRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.