Quotes by Lionel Hampton

• Playing gives me as much good feeling now as it did when I was a bitty kid.
• Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.
• The secret is keeping busy, and loving what you do.
• So I always figured I'd still be playing at this age.
• Seemed to me that drumming was the best way to get close to God.
• Working with Benny was important for me and for black musicians in general.
• Playing is my way of thinking, talking, communicating.
• Music was our wife, and we loved her. And we stayed with her, and we clothed her, and we put diamond rings on her hands.
• I worked hard learning harmony and theory when I was growing up in Chicago in the 1920s.
• I feel honored to have been a part of that dramatic change.
• Every day I look forward to getting with my instruments, trying new things.
• Black and white players hadn't appeared together in public before Teddy Wilson and I began working with B.G.
• I think I love it more as I get older because I keep getting better on drums, vibes and piano.