I have been working on this movie [Moana] since before Hamilton happened. Lin-Manuel Miranda More Quotes by Lin-Manuel Miranda More Quotes From Lin-Manuel Miranda We sort of quickly realized every rhythm, Opetaia [Foa'i] takes the lead. Lin-Manuel Miranda rhythm I came up with the "We are explorers," with sort of a counter-melody to [Opetaia Foa'i] melody. And so, it happened so organically, that it really, to me, is the most emblematic of our collaboration. Lin-Manuel Miranda explorers collaboration melody Disney's really incredible on story. Lin-Manuel Miranda incredibles stories 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 immigrant you hard work 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 my-life you experience life 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 never go think you The fun for me in collaboration is, one, working with other people just makes you smarter; that's proven. Lin-Manuel Miranda me you fun people 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 my-life myself music life You know what's a great way of tricking people into thinking you're a genius? Write a show about geniuses! Lin-Manuel Miranda great you people thinking History is so subjective. The teller of it determines it. Lin-Manuel Miranda determines teller subjective history 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 me you time life The musicals that leave us kind of staggering on our feet are the ones that really reach for a lot. Lin-Manuel Miranda reach us leave feet 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 best bad try villain 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 walk myself music i-can 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 go you grateful sometimes What 'Twilight Zone' did was show we all have a great capacity for good and evil. Lin-Manuel Miranda great good good-and-evil evil 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 hip-hop joke treat you '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 me trust hope courage 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 story distance white looks The only shows I saw as a kid were that holy trinity: 'Les Miz,' 'Cats,' 'Phantom.' Lin-Manuel Miranda cats only kid holy