Herbie Hancock quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Herbie Hancock on Wise Famous Quotes.

When you talk about 'doing the work', that's the work I'm interested in. What can I contribute as a human being?

Nobody told me I was a child prodigy.

I try to practice with my life.

Each human being exists because there's something they have to offer for the evolution of the universe that only they can fulfill.

When I was in my early teens, I remember coming to the conclusion that your life never ends.

You make different colors by combining those colors that already exist.

So I didn't actually change my name the way some people did.

I've been a religious, spiritual person for a long time.

I've been curious ever since I was a little kid.

Wisdom corresponds to the future; it is philosophy.

I'm always looking to create new avenues or new visions of music.

Technology has developed to a whole other level and theres the scientist part of me that loves that stuff.

When I was young I used to listen to everything.

I look for what's of value and extract that. I don't look to criticize.

Life is not about finding your limitations; it's about finding your infinity.

I've never really been interested in doing a solo piano tour.

Buddhism has turned me on to my humanness, and is challenging my humanness so that I can become more human.

To my wife, I'm not Herbie Hancock the musician. I'm her husband. When I'm talking to a neighbor, I'm a neighbor. When I vote, I'm a citizen.

Creativity shouldn't be following radio; it should be the other way around.

Music is the tool to express life - and all that makes a difference.

One of the most important functions of jazz has been to encourage a hope for freedom, for people living in situations of intolerance or struggle.

One thing I like about jazz is that it emphasized doing things differently from what other people were doing.

The Internet opens up a whole new range of possibilities in a wide range of areas.

But I have to be careful not to let the world dazzle me so much that I forget that I'm a husband and a father.

One of the greatest attributes of jazz, I think, is that it is that open.

I learned the importance of being nonjudgmental, taking what happens and trying to make it work.That's something you should apply to life.

The value of music is to be able to play one note at the right time in the right way.

Music isn't about music, it's about life.

Inspiration is constantly in the air. It's up to us to develop the sensitivity to pick up on it.

Jazz translates the moment into a sense of inspiration for not only the musicians but for the listeners.

There are a lot of records coming out, in every field of music, not just jazz.

The spirit of jazz is the spirit of openness.

I'm not special, no more special than anybody else.

It's not exclusive, but inclusive, which is the whole spirit of jazz.

It pulled me like a magnet, jazz did, because it was a way that I could express myself.

People are afraid to spend money now because they dont know how long theyre going to be working.

Music is not the only reason that I practice Buddhism anymore because it has affected my whole life.

Since time is a continuum, the moment is always different, so the music is always different.

It's part of my nature. I get excited when trying out new stuff, whether it be an idea or equipment. It stimulates my juices.

Don't be afraid to expand yourself, to step out of your comfort zone. That's where the joy and the adventure lie.

While knowledge may provide useful point of reference, it cannot become a force to guide the future.

We can all be ourselves, be true to ourselves, and all be together.

Without wisdom, the future has no meaning, no valuable purpose.

I think there's a great beauty to having problems. That's one of the ways we learn

So in other words, we were constantly challenged to grow, and thats what a master does.

The first thing I ever heard about synthesizers, they were being used in rock.

You don't need the fame to be vital.

You can practice to attain knowledge, but you can't practice to attain wisdom.

I'm always interested in looking forward toward the future. Carving out new ways of looking at things.

When I was coming up, I practiced all the time because I thought if I didn't I couldn't do my best.

See, there were certain rules I'd always used, and people like Trane, they would break those rules.

I try stuff. I synthesize what's of value with some of the other things I have at my disposal.

Take whatever happens and try to make it work.

I like to present something that the people haven't seen or haven't heard before. Otherwise they might as well just stay home and play the record.

I started off with classical music, and I got into jazz when I was about 14 years old. And I've been playing jazz ever since.

I feel a lot more secure about the directions I take, than I might have, had I not practiced Buddhism.

You can change your character and, at the same time, change your fortune.

Oscar Peterson is the greatest living influence on jazz pianists today.

The true artform is being a human being.

Jazz is about being in the moment.

I like the idea of an eclectic approach, incorporating jazz with other forms and other genres of music.

Miles' sessions were not typical of anybody else's sessions. They were totally unique.

When you struggle to reach for something you don't know, that's where most of the interesting stuff is.

Music truly is the universal language.

I'm aware that a lot of what is happening in jazz has not had a very dynamic change in a long time.

Hip-hop is all over the planet.

Getting the Oscar had the biggest impression on me.

I just express myself in any way I feel is appropriate at the moment.

It is people's hearts that move the age.

Jazz has been the voice of freedom for so many countries over the past half century,

I think risk-taking is a great adventure. And life should be full of adventures.

Life is not about finding our limitations, it's about finding our infinity.

The thing that we possess, that machines don't, is the ability to exhibit wisdom.

It's part of life to have obstacles. It's about overcoming obstacles; that's the key to happiness.

Being a musician is what I do, but it's not what I am.

I hope to use dialogue and culture as a means of bringing people of various cultures together, and using that as a way to resolve conflict.

It's not the style that motivates me, as much as an attitude of openness that I have when I go into a project.

You can practice to learn a technique, but I'm more interested in conceiving of something in the moment.

Jazz has borrowed from other genres of music and also has lent itself to other genres of music.

All you have to do is play one note. But it needs to be the right note.

Like no matter what happens, this would be the ultimate, they can make something positive happen.

I hope that I can make good music out of whatever genre I go into. Just to prove to myself that I can.

Jazz to me is the spirit of freedom. I mean real freedom. Freedom to explore. Freedom to express. Freedom to pour out your guts.

World peace is no longer some pie-in-the-sky thing, because no single person or country is going to solve it on their own.

Forget about trying to compete with someone else. Create your own pathway. Create your own new vision.

I am not fundamentally a musician, I am fundamentally a human being.

The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.

Creativity and artistic endeavors have a mission that goes far beyond just making music for the sake of music

The music becomes something that is its own entity.

One thing that attracted me to Buddhism was the support for this larger vision of values.

Wisdom is the key to understanding the age, creating the time.

I don't go around, the way many musicians do, with earbuds in my ear listening to my iPod all day and just sticking my head in the music all the time.

At a certain point, I became a kind of musician that has tunnel vision about jazz. I only listened to jazz and classical music.

I think I was supposed to play jazz.

We are eternally linked not just to each other but our environment.

You can expand, repeat, even change keys and do other things electronically to give certain elements and phrases more cohesiveness.

You would not exist if you did not have something to bring to the table of life.

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language

In the world of Art there are no wrong choices.

In the past, there's always been one leader that has led the pack to development of the music.