Long live teachers of children, because they can show children how they can save the world.
Pete SeegerRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of being attuned to the world around us and how it can inspire creativity.
Pete Seeger highlights the significance of nature's sounds and how they can influence our understanding and appreciation of music. Just as Monet was inspired by light to create his artwork, we too can learn from the natural world, allowing it to guide our musical expression and creativity.
Themes
MusicNatureCreativityInspirationArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about creativity, one might say, 'As Pete Seeger advised, we should listen to the sounds that surround us to find inspiration.'
More from Pete Seeger
All quotes →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 SeegerRead
Songs are funny things. They can slip across borders. Proliferate in prisons. Penetrate hard shells. I always believed that the right song at the right moment could change history.
Pete SeegerRead
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 SeegerRead
I’ve never sung anywhere without giving the people listening to me a chance to join in - as a kid, as a lefty, as a man touring the U.S.A. and the world, as an oldster. I guess it’s kind of a religion with me. Participation. That’s what’s going to save the human race.
Pete SeegerRead
I write a song because I want to. I think the moment you start writing it to make money, you're starting to kill yourself artistically.
Pete SeegerRead
Similar quotes
In my experience, as a young black artist, you have to fulfill an archetype, or be a token - and I was unwilling to do that.
Solange KnowlesRead
Designers want me to dress like Spring, in billowing things. I don't feel like Spring. I feel like a warm red Autumn.
Marilyn MonroeRead
Genius gives birth, talent delivers. What Rembrandt or Van Gogh saw in the night can never be seen again. Born writers of the future are amazed already at what they're seeing now, what we'll all see in time for the first time, and then see imitated many times by made writers.
Jack KerouacRead
It's wonderful when music is intellectually stimulating. But ultimately it has to be a visceral experience.
Maya BeiserRead
I want to tell stories that are true and that resonate and move people, that highlight both the tremendous beauty and ugliness available in the human experience.
Maya HawkeRead
In any society, the artist has a responsibility. His effectiveness is certainly limited and a painter or writer cannot change the world. But they can keep an essential margin of non-conformity alive. Thanks to them the powerful can never affirm that everyone agrees with their acts. That small difference is important.
Luis BunuelRead