Quotes from Herbie Hancock

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

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

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

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

You don't need the fame to be vital.

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

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

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

I'm one of the people who was a pioneer in encouraging musicians, early in the game, to get interested in technology, and now all the musicians are getting into it.

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

Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept. He and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that's where it really came from. Almost all of the harmony that I play can be traced to one of those four people and whoever their influences were.

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

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

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.

Jazz is a music that is open enough to borrow from any other form of music, and has the strength to influence any other form of music.

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

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

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

When I was six, my best friend's parents bought him a piano. My mother noticed that every time I would go to his house, the first thing I would say to him was 'Levester' - His name was Levester - I said, 'Levester, can I go play your piano?' So, on my 7th birthday, my parents bought me a piano.

Globalization means we have to re-examine some of our ideas, and look at ideas from other countries, from other cultures, and open ourselves to them. And that's not comfortable for the average person.

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

I try to practice with my life.

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

My father was really good with math. It's a funny thing, I don't remember my father or my mother being so mechanical-minded. My father always wanted to be a doctor, but he came from a really poor family in Georgia, and there was no way he was going to be a doctor.