I've loved musicals for as long as I can remember. There have been several that I've downloaded the entire soundtracks for, played over and over, and sung along to more times than I can count. And I've picked up a few things along the way. Musicals have the potential to teach so much if you only stop to listen. With the Tonys having just passed, I though that now would be the perfect time to share some of what I've learned. Listed below are lines from a small number of my favorite shows that have made me stop and think, whether that be about their meaning in the world around me or to me personally.

"Fiddler on the Roof"

"And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: tradition!" --"Tradition"

"Without our traditions our lives would be as shaky as ... as a fiddler on the roof!" --"Tradition"

"I realize, of course, that it's no shame to be poor." -- "If I Were a Rich Man"

"And it won't make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong. When you're rich they think you really know." -- "If I Were a Rich Man"

"Matchmaker, matchmaker, you know that I'm still very young. Please, take your time." -- "Matchmaker"

"Swiftly fly the years. One season following another, laden with happiness and tears." -- "Sunrise Sunset"

"Here's to our prosperity, to good health and happiness, and, most important, to life, to life, l'chaim." -- "To Life"

"God would like us to be joyful even when our hearts lie panting on the floor." -- "To Life"

"For twenty-five years I've lived with him, fought with him, starved with him. Twenty-five years, my bed is his. If that's not love, what is?" -- "Do You Love Me?"

"There where my heart has settled ling ago I must go, I must go." -- Far From the Home I Love

"Hamilton"

"The ten-dollar Founding Father without a father got a lot farther by working a lot harder, by being a lot smarter, by being a self-starter." --Alexander Hamilton

"Talk less. Smile more." -- Aaron Burr, Sir

"I am not throwing away my shot!" -- "My Shot"

"You keep out of trouble and you double your choices." -- "My Shot"

"I may not live to see our glory, but I will gladly join the fight. And when our children tell our story, they'll tell the story of tonight. Raise a glass to freedom--something they can never take away, no matter what they tell you." -- "The Story of Tonight"

"Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now." --The Schuyler Sisters

"Dying is easy, young man. Living is harder." -- "Right Hand Man"

"I am the one thing in life I can control. I am inimitable, I am an original." -- "Wait For It"

"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 and if there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died then I'm willing to wait for it." -- "Wait For It"

"Look at where you are, look at where you started. The fact that you're alive is a miracle. Just stay alive. That would be enough." -- "That Would Be Enough"

"You have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story." -- "History Has Its Eyes On You"

"Oceans rise, empires fall. It's much harder when it's all your call." -- "What Comes Next?"

"'Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We fought for these ideals, we shouldn't settle for less." -- "Cabinet Battle #1"

"When you got skin in the game, you stay in the game. But you don't get a win unless you play in the game. You get love for it. You get hate for it. You get nothing if you wait for it." -- "The Room Where It Happens"

"We want our leaders to save the day -- but we don't get a say in what they trade away." -- "The Room Where It Happens"

"In the eye of a hurricane there is quiet for just a moment." -- "Hurricane"

"The world has no right to my heart. The world has no place in our bed." -- "Burn"

"I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory. Is this where it gets me, on my feet, several feet ahead ahead of me? I see it coming--do I run or fire my gun or let it be? There is no beat, no melody. Burr, my first friend, my enemy, may be the last face I ever see. If I throw away my shot is this how you remember me? What if this bullet is my legacy? Legacy. What is a legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you don't get to see. I wrote some notes at the beginning of a song someone will sing for me. America, you great unfinished symphony, you sent for me. You let me make a difference. A place where even orphan immigrants can leave their fingerprints and rise up. I'm running out of time. I'm running and my time's up. Wise up. Eyes up." -- "The World Was Wide Enough"

"Heathers"

"Freeze your brain. Swim in the ice, get lost in the pain. Shut your eyes tight til you vanish from sight; let nothing remain. Freeze your brain--shatter your skull, fight pain with more pain. Forget who you are, unburden your load, forget in six weeks you'll be back on the road. When the voice in your head says you're better off dead, don't open a vein--just freeze your brain." -- "Freeze Your Brain"

"I don't have to stay and die like cattle." -- "Dead Girl Walking"

"No one thinks a pretty girl has feelings. No one sees her insecurities." --"The Me Inside of Me"

"We can start and finish wars. We're what killed the dinosaurs. We're the asteroid that's overdue. The dinosaurs choked on the dust; they died because God said they must--the new world needed room for me and you." -- "Our Love is God"

"Fine, we're damaged, really damaged, but that does not make us wise. We're not special, we're not different. We don't choose who lives or dies." -- "Seventeen"

"Deep inside of everyone there's a hot ball of shame, guilt, regret, anxiety, fears we dare not name. But if we show the ugly parts that we hide away they turn out to be beautiful by the light of day." -- "Shine a Light"

"People are going to look at the ashes of Westerburg and think "There's a school that self-destructed not because society didn't care, but because that school was society. The only place Heathers and Marthas can truly get along is in heaven." -- "Dead Girl Walking" (Reprise)

"We are done with acting evil, we will lay our weapons down. We're all damaged, we're all frightened, we're all freaks--but that's alright. We'll endure it, we'll survive it." -- "Seventeen" (Reprise)