Pete Seeger

I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other.

Pete Seeger (born 3 May 1919) U.S. musician and political activist.

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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)

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.
- NPR: Weekend Edition - Saturday, July 2, 2005

"There's no hope, but I may be wrong."
- NPR: Weekend Edition - Saturday, July 2, 2005

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

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.

My father, Charles Seeger, got me into the Communist movement. He backed out around '38. I drifted out in the 50's. I apologize [in his recent book] for following the party line so slavishly, for not seeing that Stalin was a supremely cruel misleader.

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.

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