Every day I look forward to getting with my instruments, trying new things.

- Lionel Hampton

Seemed to me that drumming was the best way to get close to God.

- Lionel Hampton

I'm motivated. The spirit hits me and I just keep going and don't stop. The more I play, the more I can invent, the more ideas come to me.

- Lionel Hampton

All art is communication of the artists' ideas, sounds, thoughts; without that no one will support the artist.

- Lionel Hampton

I worked hard learning harmony and theory when I was growing up in Chicago in the 1920s.

- Lionel Hampton

Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.

- Lionel Hampton

I always figured I'd still be playing at this age.

- Lionel Hampton

Playing is my way of thinking, talking, communicating.

- Lionel Hampton

Man, as long as people want to hear Jazz, I'll give it to them.

- Lionel Hampton