Quotes by Herbie Hancock

• Miles' sessions were not typical of anybody else's sessions. They were totally unique.
• Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.
• Music is the tool to express life - and all that makes a difference.
• I've been a religious, spiritual person for a long time.
• Nobody told me I was a child prodigy.
• 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.
• Since time is a continuum, the moment is always different, so the music is always different.
• Jazz is about being in the moment.
• See, there were certain rules I'd always used, and people like Trane, they would break those rules.
• 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.
• It is people's hearts that move the age.
• I think there's a great beauty to having problems. That's one of the ways we learn.
• I think I was supposed to play jazz.
• Getting the Oscar had the biggest impression on me.
• Creativity and artistic endeavors have a mission that goes far beyond just making music for the sake of music.
• But, the truth is that everyone is somebody already.
• 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.
• It pulled me like a magnet, jazz did, because it was a way that I could express myself.
• I try stuff. I synthesize what's of value with some of the other things I have at my disposal.
• I try to practice with my life.
• I'm always interested in looking forward toward the future. Carving out new ways of looking at things.
• I'm always looking to create new avenues or new visions of music.
• It's not the style that motivates me, as much as an attitude of openness that I have when I go into a project.
• In the past, there's always been one leader that has led the pack to development of the music.
• Being a musician is what I do, but it's not what I am.
• I feel a lot more secure about the directions I take, than I might have, had I not practiced Buddhism.
• It's not exclusive, but inclusive, which is the whole spirit of jazz.
• You would not exist if you did not have something to bring to the table of life.
• You can practice to attain knowledge, but you can't practice to attain wisdom.
• You can practice to learn a technique, but I'm more interested in conceiving of something in the moment.
• We are eternally linked not just to each other but our environment.
• While knowledge may provide useful point of reference, it cannot become a force to guide the future.
• Without wisdom, the future has no meaning, no valuable purpose.
• When I was in my early teens, I remember coming to the conclusion that your life never ends.
• When I was coming up, I practiced all the time because I thought if I didn't I couldn't do my best.
• The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.
• The thing that we possess, that machines don't, is the ability to exhibit wisdom.
• The music becomes something that is its own entity.
• The spirit of jazz is the spirit of openness.
• The value of music is to be able to play one note at the right time in the right way.