100+ Lin-Manuel Miranda Quotes to Spark Your Creative Genius

Born January 16, 1980, Lin-Manuel Miranda is perhaps one of the greatest artists, writers, and performers of our time. He is best known for his work as the creator of Hamilton, the record-shattering Broadway Musical.

Miranda has won a Pulitzer Prize, three Tony Awards, three Grammys, an Emmy, and has been nominated for an Academy Award. Making him one Oscar win away from the widely heralded EGOT, an achievement that demonstrates mastery in film, television, recording, and theater. (In fact were he to win the Oscar, Lin-Manuel would become the third person in history to achieve the PEGOT combination which includes the Pulitzer Prize.)

In recent years, Lin has leveraged the platform afforded to him by his success to speak out about issues of race and injustice in America and across the world. The son of Puerto Rican immigrants, Lin has spoken out forcefully in favor of debt relief and privatization for Puerto Rico. He also raised funds to help with Puerto Rican disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Through it all, Lin remains a ceaseless source of creativity and energy. His passion is evident in everything he does. It is contagious.

I’ve personally been deeply inspired by Lin ever since seeing Hamilton live. I hope that pulling together some of his most noteworthy quotes and thoughts will help inspire you to pursue your work and life with the same enthusiasm as he does.

Lin-Manuel Miranda Quotes about the Creative Process

The fun for me in collaboration is, one, working with other people just makes you smarter; that’s proven. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

You know what’s a great way of tricking people into thinking you’re a genius? Write a show about geniuses! — Lin-Manuel Miranda

I couldn’t possibly write ‘Next to Normal,’ but God, I can weep and watch ‘Next to Normal’ five times. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Sometimes a line enters your head, and you’re so grateful for it. You go online to check to see if anyone wrote it before you. You must have stolen it. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

I kind of need to be ambulatory to write lyrics. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Making words rhyme for a living is one of the great joys of my life… That’s a superpower I’ve been very conscious of developing. I started at the same level as everybody else, and then I just listened to more music and talked to myself until it was an actual superpower I could pull out on special occasions. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

I think I’m always subconsciously trying to write the ideal school play. Lots of parts for everybody, great parts for women – don’t forget, more girls try out than boys in the school play; everyone gets to be in the school play. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

The only other thing that’s like video games for me is watching tennis on TV. I can have it on, and there’s a rhythmic quality to it. I can be watching Wimbledon or the U.S. Open and still be working. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

I always had an eye toward the stage for the story of Hamilton’s life, but I began with the idea of a concept album, the way Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Evita’ and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ were albums before they were musicals. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

I like to separate the music- and lyric-writing processes if I can. I’ll sort of noodle around on my keyboard and my computer until I have a beat or a chord progression, I’ll record it as a loop, export it to iTunes, then walk around with the loop and sort of talk to myself in the loop, and that’s how I get the lyrics. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda Quotes about Storytelling

Biggie and Big Pun were the best storytellers of the ’90s. I would get wrapped up in the narrative of what they were talking about. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

The reason ‘Hamilton’ works is because there is no distance between that story that happened 200-some-odd years ago and now, because it looks like America now. It helps create a connection that wouldn’t have been there if it was 20 white guys on stage. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

My only responsibility as a playwright and a storyteller is to give you the time of your life in the theatre. I just happen to think that with Hamilton’s story, sticking close to the facts helps me. All the most interesting things in the show happened. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

There’s been lots of theater that uses hip-hop in it, but more often than not, it’s used as a joke—isn’t it hilarious that these characters are rapping. I treat it as a musical form, and a musical form that allows you to pack in a ton of lyric. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

‘West Wing’ was huge. Like ‘Hamilton,’ it pulls back the curtain on how decision-making happens at the highest level, or at least how you hope it would be. The amount of information Aaron Sorkin packs into a scene gave me this courage to trust the audience to keep up. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

In ‘Hamilton,’ we’re telling the stories of old, dead white men, but we’re using actors of color, and that makes the story more immediate and more accessible to a contemporary audience. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

I made a movie when I was 15 years old with all my friends. This is when IMDb was a little more lax with its proceedings, so it’s listed as one of my projects. I was 15 years old; it’s a terrible movie. I wrote 50 percent of it because I wanted to kiss this one girl, and I wrote a kissing scene for it. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

In the best works of fiction, there’s no mustache-twirling villain. I try to write shows where even the bad guy’s got his reasons. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

What’s incredible about ‘Hamilton,’ and the reason you can’t get a ticket, is because everyone’s responding to it. Everyone is seeing a bit of themselves in it. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

What ‘Twilight Zone’ did was show we all have a great capacity for good and evil. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda Quotes about Writing

One of my first favorite books was ‘The 12 Days of Christmas,’ and I would just go up to people and say, ‘I can sing ‘The 12 Days of Christmas,’ and I would make them sit through me reciting it, and I’d go all the way, each time. I’ve always hooked into lyrics. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

I only know how to write musicals. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Anytime you write something, you go through so many phases. You go through the ‘I’m a Fraud’ phase. You go through the ‘I’ll Never Finish’ phase. And every once in a while you think, ‘What if I actually have created what I set out to create, and it’s received as such?’ — Lin-Manuel Miranda

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. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

You have to live with the notion of, If I don’t write this, no one’s going to write it. If I die, this idea dies with me. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Write write write. What I’d give for your energy. WRITE! — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda Quotes about History

History is so subjective. The teller of it determines it. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

When I was asked to do a song from ‘In the Heights’ at the White House in 2009, I chose instead to do ‘Alexander Hamilton’ because I felt like I was meeting a moment. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Everything we know about Hamilton, we knew when he was alive, because he told us. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

If Hamilton were on Twitter, he would have been a worse oversharer than me. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda Quotes about Musicals

The musicals that leave us kind of staggering on our feet are the ones that really reach for a lot. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

The only shows I saw as a kid were that holy trinity: ‘Les Miz,’ ‘Cats,’ ‘Phantom.’ — Lin-Manuel Miranda

You could do a ‘Les Mis’-type musical about Hamilton, but it would have to be 12 hours long, because the amount of words on the bars when you’re writing a typical song—that’s maybe got 10 words per line. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

We love ‘Fiddler.’ We love ‘West Side Story.’ I want to be in that club. I want to be in the club that writes the musical that every high school does. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

‘Rent’ was the show that made me want to write. Or that showed me you’re allowed to write. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

If there is a Busta Rhymes of musical theater, it probably is Mandy Patinkin. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda Quotes about Race

I can’t say I have enough experience with Hollywood to feel that I’ve encountered racism there. I can tell you that I did about five fruitless years of auditioning for voiceovers where I did variations on tacos and Latin accents, and my first screen role was as a bellhop on ‘The Sopranos.’ — Lin-Manuel Miranda

I grew up in an immigrant neighborhood. We just knew the rule was you’re going to have to work twice as hard. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

We’ve had characters like Trump in American politics forever, characters who trade on xenophobia. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

I don’t differentiate between black and Latino actors. We’re in the same struggle to be represented in a way that’s even close to honest. And I can tell you that the amount of Latino characters I can point at and say, ‘That’s what my life experience looks like’ – I can’t think of any off the top of my head besides Jimmy Smits in ‘Mi Familia.’ — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Because of the success of ‘Hamilton’ and ‘On Your Feet!’ you can’t hide behind the old argument of, ‘It needs to be bankable, so we can’t put all these people of color in the show.’ We are bankable. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda Quotes about Music

The music you love when you’re a teenager is always going to be the most important to you, and I find that it’s all over the score of ‘Hamilton.’ — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda Quotes about Hollywood

What I learned from my go-round with ‘In the Heights’ is that it’s tough to make a movie. In Hollywood, even the people in charge have people in charge. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

A lot of the reason the Universal version of ‘Heights’ went away is that they were afraid they didn’t have a big enough Latino star to bankroll this movie. The people I dealt with at the studio who wanted to make this movie were very passionate about it. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Pretty much anything William Shatner is in is great. He’s great at playing that ‘I’m the only one sane in the world’ character. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda Quotes about Positive-Thinking

You are perfectly cast in your life. I can’t imagine anyone but you in the role. Go play. ― Lin-Manuel Miranda

My wife’s the reason anything gets done
She nudges me towards promise by degrees
She is a perfect symphony of one
Our son is her most beautiful reprise
We chase the melodies that seem to find us
Until they’re finished songs and start to play
When senseless acts of tragedy remind us
That nothing here is promised, not one day
This show is proof that history remembers
We lived through times when hate and fear seemed stronger
We rise and fall and light from dying embers, remembrances that hope and love last longer
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside
I sing Vanessa’s symphony, Eliza tells her story. Now fill the world with music, love and pride.
― Lin-Manuel Miranda

Good morning. Imagine how you want to feel at the end of the day. Start working towards that now. Have a good breakfast though. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

The world changes.
The ground shifts.
We still make plans.
We still find gifts.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda

You can fume at the world if you like. You can also use your words, art and gifts to let us in. Build us a bridge to where you are. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

Those who hate us and fear us cannot bring us down. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

God, I hate it when people don’t realize they’re extraordinary and capable of tremendous things. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

The sun is gone but you remain, undimmed and glorious. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

The world changes.
The earth spins.
We grieve our losses.
We eke out wins.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda

Everything is changing all the time.
May as well lean into it.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda

Good morning. Your very presence is intoxicating. Good night. Your very absence is sobering. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

You cannot let all the world’s tragedies into your heart. You’ll drown. But the ones you do let in should count. Let them manifest action. ― Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda Quotes from Hamilton

I know my sister like I know my own mind, you will never find anyone as trusting or as kind. ― Lin-Manuel Miranda

Dying is easy, young man. Living is harder ― Lin-Manuel Miranda

Legacy. What is a Legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see. ― Lin-Manuel Miranda

I am the one thing in life I can control.
I am inimitable.
I am an original.
― Lin-Manuel Miranda

Life doesn’t discriminate
Between the sinners and the saints
It takes and it takes and it takes
And we keep living anyway
We rise and we fall and we break
And we make our mistakes.
― Lin-Manuel Miranda

When my prayers to God were met with indifference, I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance. — Lin-Manuel Miranda