I've had to make the transition from sweeping in for 15 minutes, doing my stuff and clearing out, to carrying a movie for the duration - in a dress.

I like the quiet it takes to pursue an idea the way I pursued 'Hamilton,' but I couldn't write a book, because there's no applause at the end of writing a book.

I've always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worry and only half the royalties.

The classy gangster is a Hollywood invention.

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.