Quotes by Pete Seeger

About Pete Seeger:

Peter was an American folk singer and activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene", which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. Members of the Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era. In the 1960s, he re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, counterculture and environmental causes.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

When you're facing an opponent over a broad front, you don't aim for the opponent's strong points, important though they may be. Pick a little outpost that you can capture and win. And then you find another place that you can capture and win it, and ...

Pete Seeger

I'm still a communist in the sense that I don't believe the world will survive with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer - I think that the pressures will get so tremendous that the social contract will just come apart.

Pete Seeger

Singing with children in the schools has been the most rewarding experience of my life.

Pete Seeger

The American Indians were Communists. They were. Every anthropologist will tell you they were Communists. No rich, no poor. If somebody needed something the community chipped in.

Pete Seeger

Any darn fool can make something complex; it takes a genius to make something simple.

Pete Seeger

Well, normally I’m against big things. I think the world is going to be saved by millions of small things. Too many things can go wrong when they get big.” — Pete Seeger (on how he felt about attending his big 90th birthday bash last year)

Pete Seeger

I came from an intellectual family. Most were doctors, preachers, teachers, businessmen. My grandfather was a small businessman. His father was an abolitionist doctor, and his father was an immigrant from Germany.

Pete Seeger

Again, I say I will be glad to tell what songs I have ever sung, because singing is my business.

Pete Seeger

Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.

Pete Seeger

Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't.

Pete Seeger

I came along and was a teenager in the Depression, and nobody had jobs. So I went out hitchhiking, when I met a man named Woody Guthrie. He was the single biggest part of my education.

Pete Seeger

According to my definition of God, I'm not an atheist. Because I think God is everything. Whenever I open my eyes, I'm looking at God. Whenever I'm listening to something, I'm listening to God.

Pete Seeger

I keep reminding people that an editorial in rhyme is not a song. A good song makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you think.

Pete Seeger

My mother was a very good violinist; my father was a musicologist and spent most of his life in academia.

Pete Seeger

The good and bad are all tangled up together. American popular music is loved around the world because of its African rhythm. But that wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for slavery.

Pete Seeger

I feel that my whole life is a contribution.

Pete Seeger

I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin, or situation in life.

Pete Seeger

I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this. I would be very glad to tell you my life if you want to hear of it.

Pete Seeger

When you play the 12-string guitar, you spend half your life tuning the instrument and the other half playing it out of tune.

Pete Seeger

I fought for peace in the fifties.

Pete Seeger

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 get people to sing with me.

Pete Seeger

Author Bio

  • NamePete Seeger
  • DescriptionAmerican folk singer
  • AliasesPeter Seeger
  • BornMay 3, 1919
  • DiedJanuary 27, 2014
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionSinger; Street Artist; Banjoist; Musicologist; Singer-songwriter; Guitarist
  • WorksWhere Have All The Flowers Gone?
  • AwardsNational Medal Of Arts; Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award