Long live teachers of children, because they can show children how they can save the world.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Songs have the power to transcend boundaries and influence significant changes in society.
In this quote, Pete Seeger expresses the belief that music is a universal language that can easily cross cultural and physical barriers. He suggests that songs have the ability to penetrate even the toughest circumstances, like prisons or emotional defenses, and when paired with the right context, they can have a profound impact on history and societal change.
Themes
SongsMusicChangeInfluenceHistory
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about creativity, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of music in social movements.
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
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
Do-so is more important than say-so.
Pete SeegerRead
Similar quotes
My definition of Blues is that it's a musical form which is very disciplined and structured coupled with a state of mind, and you can have either of those things but it's the two together that make it what it is. And you need to be a student for one, and a human being for the other, but those things alone don't do it.
Eric ClaptonRead
It used to be called boogie-woogie, it used to be called blues, used to be called rhythm and blues...It's called rock now.
Chuck BerryRead
Do I love the road? Honestly? No - but it's how I earn my living. I also don't have the blues, like it's some kind of fever. The blues is my job. It's what I do.
B. B. KingRead
What we've had to do is learn to control success, put it in perspective, and not lose the essence of what we're doing - the music.
Janis JoplinRead
I never sang for a Grammy, for money, for fame. That's my whole purpose for singing: for people, for the fans.
Mavis StaplesRead
The difference between blues, jazz, rock n' roll and rap is that rap stayed poor. Even the white rappers are poor. It's scarier to look at poor people; it makes everyone uncomfortable. Their pain is something that people would like to see swept under the rug.
Russell SimmonsRead