Top 100 Herbie Hancock Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Don’t be afraid to expand yourself, to step out of your comfort zone. That’s where the joy and the adventure lie.”

— Herbie Hancock

2. “Jazz is about being in the moment.”

— Herbie Hancock

3. “It’s part of life to have obstacles. It’s about overcoming obstacles; that’s the key to happiness.”

— Herbie Hancock

4. “Music is the tool to express life – and all that makes a difference.”

— Herbie Hancock

5. “Life is not about finding our limitations, it’s about finding our infinity.”

— Herbie Hancock

6. “I’m always interested in looking forward toward the future. Carving out new ways of looking at things.”

— Herbie Hancock

7. “The most valuable things in life are priceless. They are courage, compassion, wisdom, respect for ourselves and others, and a host of characteristics that we call the beauty of the human spirit.”

— Herbie Hancock

8. “I think risk-taking is a great adventure. And life should be full of adventures.”

— Herbie Hancock

9. “Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.”

— Herbie Hancock

10. “In the world of Art there are no wrong choices.”

— Herbie Hancock

11. “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.”

— Herbie Hancock

12. “We need to put into practice the idea of embracing other cultures. We need to be shaping the kind of world we want to live in instead of waiting for someone else or some other entities to do it for us.”

— Herbie Hancock

13. “You make different colors by combining those colors that already exist.”

— Herbie Hancock

14. “I think there’s a great beauty to having problems. That’s one of the ways we learn.”

— Herbie Hancock

15. “I like the idea of an eclectic approach, incorporating jazz with other forms and other genres of music.”

— Herbie Hancock

16. “The strongest thing that any human being has going is their own integrity and their own heart. As soon as you start veering away from that, the solidity that you need in order to be able to stand up for what you believe in and deliver what’s really inside, it’s just not going to be there.”

— Herbie Hancock

17. “In World War II, jazz absolutely was the music of freedom, and then in the Cold War, behind the Iron Curtain, same thing. It was all underground, but they needed the food of freedom that jazz offered.”

— Herbie Hancock

18. “We need to move into a culture of peace. What I hope to promote is the idea that we all need each other and that the greatest happiness in life is not how much we have but how much we give. That’s a wealth that’s priceless. You can’t buy compassion.”

— Herbie Hancock

19. “The true artform is being a human being.”

— Herbie Hancock

20. “You can change your character and, at the same time, change your fortune.”

— Herbie Hancock

21. “The spirit of jazz is the spirit of openness.”

— Herbie Hancock

22. “The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.”

— Herbie Hancock

23. “I’ve had a life that has taken many interesting paths. I’ve learned a lot from mentors who were instrumental in shaping me, and I want to share what I’ve learned.”

— Herbie Hancock

24. “The cool thing is that jazz is really a wonderful example of the great characteristics of Buddhism and great characteristics of the human spirit. Because in jazz we share, we listen to each other, we respect each other, we are creating in the moment. At our best, we’re non-judgmental.”

— Herbie Hancock

25. “You don’t need the fame to be vital.”

— Herbie Hancock

26. “The first thing I ever heard about synthesizers, they were being used in rock.”

— Herbie Hancock

27. “It is people’s hearts that move the age.”

— Herbie Hancock

28. “I try to practice with my life.”

— Herbie Hancock

29. “You can practice to attain knowledge, but you can’t practice to attain wisdom.”

— Herbie Hancock

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

— Herbie Hancock

31. “I think I was supposed to play jazz.”

— Herbie Hancock

32. “I’ve been a religious, spiritual person for a long time.”

— Herbie Hancock

33. “One of the greatest experiences I ever had was listening to a conversation with Joni Mitchell and Wayne Shorter. Just to hear them talking, my mouth was open. They understand each other perfectly, and they make these leaps and jumps because they don’t have to explain anything.”

— Herbie Hancock

34. “Jazz to me is the spirit of freedom. I mean real freedom. Freedom to explore. Freedom to express. Freedom to pour out your guts.”

— Herbie Hancock

35. “So I didn’t actually change my name the way some people did.”

— Herbie Hancock

36. “Oscar Peterson is the greatest living influence on jazz pianists today.”

— Herbie Hancock

37. “It’s not exclusive, but inclusive, which is the whole spirit of jazz.”

— Herbie Hancock

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

— Herbie Hancock

39. “I look for what’s of value and extract that. I don’t look to criticize.”

— Herbie Hancock

40. “We are eternally linked not just to each other but our environment.”

— Herbie Hancock

41. “Since time is a continuum, the moment is always different, so the music is always different.”

— Herbie Hancock

42. “World peace is no longer some pie-in-the-sky thing, because no single person or country is going to solve it on their own.”

— Herbie Hancock

43. “Without wisdom, the future has no meaning, no valuable purpose.”

— Herbie Hancock

44. “Wisdom is the key to understanding the age, creating the time.”

— Herbie Hancock

45. “All you have to do is play one note. But it needs to be the right note.”

— Herbie Hancock

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

— Herbie Hancock

47. “Music isn’t about music, it’s about life.”

— Herbie Hancock

48. “When I was young I used to listen to everything.”

— Herbie Hancock

49. “I’ve been curious ever since I was a little kid.”

— Herbie Hancock

50. “Nobody told me I was a child prodigy.”

— Herbie Hancock