Stephen Sondheim was an award-winning composer and lyricist known for his contributions to some of the greatest works in the American musical theater canon, including “West Side Story” and “Into the Woods.” Alongside librettist George Furth, Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for the 1981 musical “Merrily We Roll Along,” which features this line from the ensemble number “It’s a Hit.” The show follows the lives of three friends — a composer, a lyricist, and a journalist — in reverse chronological order from their weary middle-aged selves to the most promising days of their youth. While “It’s a Hit” takes place after the characters have found theatrical success, in reality, “Merrily” was considered a critical failure compared to Sondheim’s more significant works. But as this lyric suggests, success and failure are two sides of the same coin; it’s the action you take afterward that truly counts. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a prolific 19th-century scholar and writer, and the first American to be honored in Poets’ Corner at London’s Westminster Abbey. Much of his work was influenced by Romanticism, a literary movement that emphasized the natural world and human emotion. His narrative poem “The Birds of Killingworth,” in which this quote appears, is no exception. Longfellow’s gentle, simple writing shines through in this line, reminding us to allow circumstances outside our control to play out. Sometimes, the wisest thing to do is nothing at all.