Alan [Lomax] and his father started off changing the definition of folk music from something ancient and anonymous to something very contemporary.

Being generous of spirit is a wonderful way to live.

I learned by transcribing songs out of the Library of Congress collection in Washington where I was working. I got a job when I just turned twenty in 1939 and Alan [Lomax] needed some help. I listened to hundreds of records every week.

My mother gave me a ukulele at age eight, and I sang the popular tunes of the day.

I tell kids, don't trust the media. The media with their emphasis on fame is helping to destroy this country, helping destroy the human race. It's the plug-in drug.

I'd like to be remembered as the sower of seeds. That's the greatest parable in the bible as far as I'm concerned. Some seeds fall in the pathway, get stomped on and don't grow. Some fall on the stones and don't even sprout, but others fall on the ground and multiply a thousand fold.

Like most teachers, I'm just another sower of seeds.