Top 100 Ben Harper Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “I grew up listening to spiritual music, Blind Willie Johnson and folk.”

— Ben Harper

52. “My choice is what I choose to be.”

— Ben Harper

53. “I refuse to age disgracefully in rock ‘n’ roll.”

— Ben Harper

54. “Life’s the longest picture you’re ever gonna take.”

— Ben Harper

55. “My family owns a music store in Claremont, California, called The Claremont Folk Music Center.”

— Ben Harper

56. “If you’re gonna live, then live it up.”

— Ben Harper

57. “The lifetime we’ve left behind with strangers Promises and lies both have their dangers. I just can’t be wrong enough and I can’t hide for long enough So far away, but I still feel your pain.”

— Ben Harper

58. “The very thing that drives you, can drive you insane Got a head full of thought crimes and a number with no name Got an eleventh hour Jesus and a mouth full of blame A casket lined with silver dollars and a number with no name.”

— Ben Harper

59. “The woman in you is the worry in me.”

— Ben Harper

60. “Could’ve sworn I heard you say Amen this morning, showing some kind of sign that you believe. Did it fall from your tongue without warning? Or just another trick to fall from your sleeve?”

— Ben Harper

61. “As a songwriter, I don’t rush. I may sit on lyrics for two years before the music hits.”

— Ben Harper

62. “I love being on the road, I love playing.”

— Ben Harper

63. “That happens every time I get behind a guitar, regardless of what I’m saying, ’cause music is freedom and being free is the closest I’ve ever felt to being spiritual.”

— Ben Harper

64. “Sometimes I may be totally arrogant, sometimes I may totally be the most humble guy you’ve ever met, sometimes I may be in between. But that’s life. Who isn’t like that? What’s the big deal if I had an arrogant moment.”

— Ben Harper

65. “When you hear Doc Watson singing Amazing Grace, something else enters the room.”

— Ben Harper

66. “There’s only one proper way a song should go, but you’ve got to be patient enough to let them come together time wise. Sometimes it’s lightning in a bottle and you got the song. But oftentimes it shows up.”

— Ben Harper

67. “People say, “How do you write songs?” I say, “Patience.” I may have a track that’s hot, but no words. I’ll just let it sit for years, because I know they’re going to meet. They’ll find it.”

— Ben Harper

68. “Children come running to the truth But you’ve got to peel the skin to get the fruit And while one’s living high another’s grieving But what’s sweet by morning is bitter by the evening Oh – What’s sweet by morning is bitter by the evening.”

— Ben Harper

69. “I really feel like the sky is the limit with the Innocent Criminals today.”

— Ben Harper

70. “People who try to define their spirituality sometimes are annoying, ’cause the spirit is something you feel and let guide you and humbly respect.”

— Ben Harper

71. “It turns out that there is something more magnificent than nature. It’s love.”

— Ben Harper

72. “If interviews are just interviews or if music is just music, why are we even doing it? You only get so many hours in a lifetime, man.”

— Ben Harper

73. “I get diminishing returns when I bore myself in an interview.”

— Ben Harper

74. “My band is the best band in the world, period. So, I insist on every song being better then it is on the record. So by the end of the tour, we have to be playing the song better then how it’s recorded.”

— Ben Harper

75. “All that we can’t say is all we need to hear.”

— Ben Harper

76. “I want to try to not be the child that had to go through too much too young. I want to be who I am now and not who I was then.”

— Ben Harper

77. “The spirit is what guides my life, and I’m humbly on my knees in thanks for guidance and direction every day. But God is not something to be preached, it’s something to be lived.”

— Ben Harper

78. “I don’t know how to not become every person I walk by.”

— Ben Harper

79. “The advice I have for new artists is this – write great songs and play them live as often as possible. Get residencies all over town and crush it.”

— Ben Harper

80. “You have to do what you believe in.”

— Ben Harper

81. “It just takes a pebble to bring down a good man.”

— Ben Harper

82. “Every man’s actions belong to him.”

— Ben Harper

83. “I want to try to be who I am today, not who I was yesterday.”

— Ben Harper

84. “Every single time I step into the studio, I say, ‘Can I still do this? Do I still have it? Have I ever had it?’ I suppose there’s a good amount of self-loathing that goes into any form of artisanship.”

— Ben Harper

85. “Don’t let what you have to heal from blind you to how much there is to heal for.”

— Ben Harper

86. “When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.”

— Ben Harper

87. “The music is in the lead here, and a large part of this, I have no idea what I’m doing. I feel a closer bond with the craft of songwriting, stronger than I ever have.”

— Ben Harper

88. “What enables me to believe in anything is hope.”

— Ben Harper

89. “My main concern when travelling around the world is finding a place to skateboard!”

— Ben Harper

90. “I’m not going to do the Ben Harper house record or the Ben Harper drum ‘n’ bass record.”

— Ben Harper

91. “My head works in music, so there’s always music there.”

— Ben Harper

92. “But I would never insult the people that love this music and I would never insult the blessing of music in my life and I would never insult myself by playing uninspired music.”

— Ben Harper

93. “I refuse to make uninspired music.”

— Ben Harper

94. “The Blind Boys are truly the deepest well of American musical heritage you can discover.”

— Ben Harper

95. “It was a huge deal, a huge musical discovery that became life lessons learned. You can’t return from having an experience like that. The Blind Boys are truly the deepest well of American musical heritage you can discover.”

— Ben Harper

96. “The good news is at this point as I get older, the load has gotten heavier but my shoulders have gotten wider because I’ve gotten happier so it’s a damn good thing.”

— Ben Harper

97. “We figured you could download live shows for days, so we decided to go for a cream-of-the-crop approach, but not just take the best vocal or the best performances.”

— Ben Harper

98. “I write songs and I sing them from the deepest part of my existence and I hope they connect with the deepest part of yours.”

— Ben Harper

99. “Time is really for those who really need it. I mean, I deal with it. A lot of people are slaves to the second, minute hand. I can’t do that!”

— Ben Harper

100. “To go through this life and see it through – what it really is – and not be insane or addicted, is a minor miracle for anyone.”

— Ben Harper