Quotes By Herbie Hancock

Jazz is about being in the moment.

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

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

I try to practice with my life.

I think I was supposed to play jazz.

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

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

It is people's hearts that move the age.

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

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

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

The spirit of jazz is the spirit of openness.

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

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nobody told me I was a child prodigy.

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

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

Getting the Oscar had the biggest impression on me.

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

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

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

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

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