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.

You make different colors by combining those colors that already exist.

I hope to use dialogue and culture as a means of bringing people of various cultures together, and using that as a way to resolve conflict.

Most people define themselves by what they do - 'I'm a musician.' Then one day it occurred to me that I'm only a musician when I'm playing music - or writing music, or talking about music. I don't do that 24 hours a day. I'm also a father, a son, a husband, a citizen - I mean, when I go to vote, I'm not thinking of myself as 'a musician.'

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.

Nobody told me I was a child prodigy.

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 easy to get sidetracked with technology, and that is the danger, but ultimately you have to see what works with the music and what doesn't. In a lot of cases, less is more. In most cases, less is more.

When the suggestion was made that I might consider doing music of Joni Mitchell, I thought it was a fantastic idea. Joni, I admire not only for her music but for her person, because she's a person that really stands out for what she believes in.

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

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.

I am not fundamentally a musician, I am fundamentally a human being.

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

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

Take whatever happens and try to make it work.

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

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

As a human being, I'm concerned about the world that I live in. So, I'm concerned about peace. I'm concerned about - about man's inhumanity to man. I'm concerned about the environment.

It's not the style that motivates me, as much as an attitude of openness that I have when I go into a project.

I started off with classical music, and I got into jazz when I was about 14 years old. And I've been playing jazz ever since.

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.

Each human being exists because there's something they have to offer for the evolution of the universe that only they can fulfill.

Being a musician is what I do, but it's not what I am.

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

While knowledge may provide useful point of reference, it cannot become a force to guide the future.

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.

You can practice to attain knowledge, but you can't practice to attain wisdom.

I don't view myself as a musician anymore - I view myself as a human being that functions as a musician when I'm functioning as a musician, but that's not 24 hours a day. That's really opened me up to even more perspectives because now I look at music, not from the standpoint of being a musician, but from the standpoint of being a human being.

I've never really been interested in doing a solo piano tour.

One thing that sticks in my mind is that jazz means freedom and openness. It's a music that, although it developed out of the African American experience, speaks more about the human experience than the experience of a particular people.

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

But, the truth is that everyone is somebody already.

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

Getting the Oscar had the biggest impression on me.

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

I think I was supposed to play jazz.

I think there's a great beauty to having problems. That's one of the ways we learn.

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 looking to create new avenues or new visions of music.

I've been a religious, spiritual person for a long time.

In the past, there's always been one leader that has led the pack to development of the music.

It is people's hearts that move the age.

Jazz has borrowed from other genres of music and also has lent itself to other genres of music.

Miles' sessions were not typical of anybody else's sessions. They were totally unique.

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.

See, there were certain rules I'd always used, and people like Trane, they would break those rules.

The music becomes something that is its own entity.

The thing that we possess, that machines don't, is the ability to exhibit wisdom.