Ben Harper Quotes

I dont know if hell exists, but there sure as hell are some people who dont belong in heaven.

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.

What enables me to believe in anything is hope.

What started as a whisper
Slowly turned into a scream
Searching for an answer
Where the question is unseen
I don't know where you came from
And I don't know where you've gone
Old friends become old strangers
Between the darkness and the dawn

Every moral has a story, every story has and end. Every battle has its glory, and its consequence.

It just takes a pebble to bring down a good man.

If you don't like my fire, don't come around cuz I'm gonna burn one down.

As long as someone else controls your history the truth shall remain just a mystery

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.

Hiding is not an option and you're going to step out and you're going to make mistakes. I'm going to look stupid. I'm going to say things I want to retract. I'm going to sing notes I wish I could have back, there's just no getting around the stumble, but if you stumble enough times you're going to fall off the edge and have no choice but to freakin' fly.

You can kill a lot of time if you really want to put your mind to it Or leave it all behind and never really have to go through it

I can't not put myself in the shoes of every person I pass.

You can't just say I love you, you have to LIVE I love you

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.

My choice is what I choose to be.

I get diminishing returns when I bore myself in an interview.

They say time will make all this go away. But it's time that's taken my tomorrow, and turned them into yesterday.

There is a difference between a great producer and somebody who is a big advocate of your music. Just because you're a big advocate for a band doesn't mean you need to be in the studio with them, and at the same time - we don't need to get into this conversation - you can write a hit, but it might not hit.

I've never made a record that didn't sound better than what was in my head - that's sort of my rule.

Love for me is my North Star. It's the highest form of grace. And I love that there's different levels and different ways of showing it, and different representations of it. Whether it's love shown to a stranger, love to a sibling, your child, your parents, your partner.

I appreciate that something I've done has found a safe place to land.

These eyes weren't made for crying, this love wasn't made to waste. These arms weren't made for battle, but to share in your embrace.

I grew up with the Blind Boys' music. My family owns a music store in Claremont, California, called The Claremont Folk Music Center. I grew up with a heavy diet of gospel, folk, and blues because those are kind of the cornerstones of traditional American music.

Life's the longest picture you're ever gonna take.

The only way that you can find any semblance of a rule, or make any semblance of your own rule, is to tear up the rulebook. Throw it out, burn it, throw it away, and make your own rules.

There's so much there, there's so much to heal for.

I don't know how to not become every person I walk by.

It's so hard to do and so easy to say but sometimes you just have to walk away

If you're gonna live, then live it up. If you're gonna give, then give it up. If you're gonna walk the Earth, then walk it proud. If you're gonna say the word, you got to say it loud.

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.

I'm really looking forward to, not more of the same, but a continual growth.

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.

With so many people to love in my life, why do I worry about one?

If you're gonna live, then live it up.

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!

Folk is bare bones music.

Now I love to feel that warm southern rain, Just to hear it fall is the sweetest sounding thing. And to see it fall on your simple country dress It's like heaven to me I must confess.

If it comes out sounding like Dixieland jazz or classical or punk or rock or even slightly metal, that's because that's where I'm going to find inspiration.

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.

When your whole world is shaken from all the risks we have taken, Dance with me, dance with me into the colors of the dusk.

When you have everything, you have everything to lose.

When it comes to writers and poets, for me it's Vinicius de Moraes. He's one of the greatest lyricists ever.

Now that you've grown up You can finally learn to be a child We made it to the end of the world But we'll never make it out alive.

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

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

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

Make sure the fortune that you seek is the fortune that you need.

Don't let what you have to heal from blind you to how much there is to heal for.

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.

I'm a living sunset, lightning in my bones.

Every time feels like my first time. And I just find that the process of it feeds into one's own self-obsession.

Take my hand when you are worried Take my hand when you're alone Take my hand and let me guide you Take my hand to lead you home.

You're definitely a different person at different stages in your life.

I love being on the road, I love playing.

It turns out that there is something more magnificent than nature. It's love.

Of all the states of emotion I've ever been in, music takes me to the strongest state of emotion the quickest, of any other sort of state of mind I've ever been in or been put in by any substance or circumstance, music brings me to an emotional state of being faster than anything I've ever known

We've changed our reflections, but inside we're just a child.

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.

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.

I knew a girl, her name was Truth. She was a terrible liar.

My main concern when travelling around the world is finding a place to skateboard!

We've all got stardust in our bones ...

I just want to keep doing what I feel.

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.

You look like gold. I've been fooled before, but now I know I've made the mistake in the past. But now I, now I know the difference from gold and brass.

As long as the songs are strong, I think you can express yourself in any style and have it be soulful and have it be your own voice.

Don't be discouraged by writer's block. Writer's block just means you need to listen to other music.

It will make a weak man mighty. it will make a mighty man fall. It will fill your heart and hands or leave you with nothing at all. It's the eyes for the blind and legs for the lame. It is the love for hate and pride for shame. That's the power of the gospel.

There's no love like a lost love and no pain like a broken heart.

I'm not going to do the Ben Harper house record or the Ben Harper drum 'n' bass record.

It's not easy for a mother and son to sing a duet. You can't just sing about anything.

The world awakens on the run And will soon be earning With hopes of better days to come It's a morning yearning.

Right now I'm listening to a lot of different things but I listen to a lot of classical music. Eventually I would like to compose and perform classical.

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.

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

If I'm inspired and music inspires me, then I will continue to play it.

So it's not so much that I set out to do something different, it's just that the songs themselves require their own individual voice and attention.

My choice is what I choose to do,
And if I'm causing no harm, it shouldn't bother you.
Your choice is who you choose to be,
And if you're causin' no harm, then you're alright with me.

There's no room in my life for religion. Religion is separation and segregation of God. How can you segregate the Almighty?

Life is short and if you're looking for extension, you had best do well. 'Cause there's good deeds and then there's good intentions. They are as far apart as Heaven and Hell.

I refuse to age disgracefully in rock 'n' roll.

Let us burn one from end to end, and pass it over to me my friend ...

Every man's actions belong to him.

You have to do what you believe in.

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.

I really feel there's no limitation on what this band can do in the studio or on the stage. That's an empowering feeling - that we can bring a song to life.

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.

There's something in everyone only they know.