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. – Pete Seeger
I live in the country, so I get a fair amount of exercise. We heat our house with wood, so I split wood. We also live on a steep hill, and I have to rake and put in cross-stitches to keep the road from washing out when there’s a big rain. – 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
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
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 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
I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other. – 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 am saying voluntarily that I have sung for almost every religious group in the country, from Jewish and Catholic, and Presbyterian and Holy Rollers and Revival Churches, and I do this voluntarily. – 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
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
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
I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent the implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known, and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, make me less of an American. – 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
Down through the centuries, this trick has been tried by various establishments throughout the world. They force people to get involved in the kind of examination that has only one aim and that is to stamp out dissent. – 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
I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. – Pete Seeger
One of the things I’m most proud of about my country is the fact that we did lick McCarthyism back in the fifties. – Pete Seeger
I’ve found that festivals are a relatively painless way to meet people and make a few points that need making, without having to hit them over the head with too many speeches. – Pete Seeger
