Pete Seeger Quotations

Peter Seeger is a U.S. musician, political activist, and author; usually known as Pete Seeger.

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This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.
- Inscription on his banjo, inspired by the inscription on Woody Guthrie's guitar : "This machine kills fascists"

We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand some day...
The whole wide world around some day.
- Lyrics added to "We Shall Overcome" by Seeger in the late 1940s, whose musical arrangement and renditions helped popularize the song among civil-rights activists in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He also changed the primary lines from from "We Will Overcome" to "We Shall Overcome".

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose under heaven.
- "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (1954); a song which adapts a passage from the book of Ecclesiastes to music, with a few additional lyrics.

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of peace... I swear it's not too late.
- "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (1954)

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
- "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (1955)

I have been singing folksongs of America and other lands to people everywhere. I am proud that I never refused to sing to any group of people because I might disagree with some of the ideas of some of the people listening to me. I have sung for rich and poor, for Americans of every possible political and religious opinion and persuasion, of every race, color, and creed. The House committee wished to pillory me because it didn’t like some few of the many thousands of places I have sung for.
- Statement to the court (1961) prior to his sentencing on contempt of Congress charges for his refusal to reveal names of communist or socialist acquaintances before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955.

A good song can only do good, and I am proud of the songs I have sung. I hope to be able to continue singing these songs for all who want to listen, Republicans, Democrats, and independents.
- Statement to the court prior to his sentencing for contempt of Congress (1961); also quoted on NPR: Weekend Edition (2 July 2005)

If I've got a talent, it's for picking the right song at the right time for the right audience. And I can always seem to get people to sing with me.
- "A Minstrel with a Mission", Life magazine, 1964.

Every time I read the paper those old feelings come on.
We are waist deep in the Big Muddy and the big fool says to push on.
- "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" (1967)

I like to say I'm more conservative than Goldwater. He just wanted to turn the clock back to when there was no income tax. I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other.
- "The Old Left", New York Times Magazine, 22 January 1995, sect. 6 p. 13

I still call myself a communist, because communism is no more what Russia made of it than Christianity is what the churches make of it. But if by some freak of history communism had caught up with this country, I would have been one of the first people thrown in jail.
- "The Old Left", New York Times Magazine, 22 January 1995, sect. 6 p. 13

The world would never amount to a hill of beans if people didn't use their imaginations to think of the impossible.
- Pete Seeger's Storytelling Book, 2001, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN 0156013118, p. 220

The world will be saved by people fighting for their homes.
- NPR: Weekend Edition (2 July 2005)

Quotations from How Can I Keep from Singing: Pete Seeger (1981) by David King Dunaway ISBN 0070181500

Shh. Listen to the sounds that surround you. Notice the pitches, the volume, the timbre, the many lines of counterpoint. As light taught Monet to paint, the earth may be teaching you music.

A productive mistake is: (1) made in the service of mission and vision; (2) acknowledged as a mistake; (3) learned from; (4) considered valuable; (5) shared for the benefit of all.
- p. 90

The easiest way to avoid wrong notes is to never open your mouth and sing. What a mistake that would be.
- p. 95

"So, are you going to practice today?" asks my inner mom.
"Well, sure. But I've got one more phone call to make. The dishes are dirty. I have to feed the cat."
I don't hate practicing. I resist it. The goddess of procrastination can seduce me by lifting one eyebrow. After decades of practicing or avoiding the same, walking over to the piano remains the hardest part.
- p. 117

At the audition, your assignment is to find something new in the song. Something you've never noticed before. A breath carried over, a thought that ties the whole thing together. Then take the risk and do it.
- p. 119

If singing were all that serious, frowning would make you sound better.
- p. 122

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